Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.05

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 18th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of 0.05 per share by the medical research company on Friday, March 28th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th.

Bruker has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.7% per year over the last three years. Bruker has a dividend payout ratio of 6.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Bruker to earn $3.15 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.3%.

Bruker Stock Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ:BRKR opened at $45.97 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.49, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18. Bruker has a 1-year low of $44.11 and a 1-year high of $94.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $53.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.57.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 3.36%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Bruker will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BRKR shares. Bank of America upped their price target on Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays lowered their target price on Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group started coverage on Bruker in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $66.00 target price on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bruker currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.50.

About Bruker

Bruker Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and distributes scientific instruments, and analytical and diagnostic solutions in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Bruker Scientific Instruments (BSI) BioSpin, BSI CALID, BSI Nano, and Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies.