Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Short Interest Down 12.2% in October

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,810,000 shares, a drop of 12.2% from the October 15th total of 4,340,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days. Approximately 3.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BRKR. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Bruker by 21.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,306,122 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $987,981,000 after acquiring an additional 2,521,904 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Bruker by 127.8% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,389,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $88,666,000 after acquiring an additional 779,549 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Bruker during the second quarter worth about $36,472,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd grew its holdings in Bruker by 4,875.9% during the third quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 470,171 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $32,470,000 after acquiring an additional 460,722 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Bruker by 1,933.2% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 410,234 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $28,331,000 after acquiring an additional 390,057 shares during the period. 79.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BRKR. Barclays reduced their price objective on Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bruker has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.36.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BRKR traded down $3.19 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $51.30. 1,978,983 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,079,714. Bruker has a 52 week low of $50.88 and a 52 week high of $94.86. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $62.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The company has a market cap of $7.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.66, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.20.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The medical research company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by ($0.01). Bruker had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.52%. The company had revenue of $864.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $866.46 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. Bruker’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bruker will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.