Short Interest in Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) Rises By 8.2%

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,750,000 shares, an increase of 8.2% from the January 15th total of 6,240,000 shares. Approximately 6.6% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,490,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BRKR. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bruker by 4,636.4% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 521 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 510 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Bruker by 2,324.1% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 703 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 674 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Bruker by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 909 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bruker during the third quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Bruker by 47.5% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,279 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. 79.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BRKR. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Bruker from $70.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a report on Friday, January 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.50.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BRKR traded down $1.11 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $50.04. 2,044,498 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,412,424. Bruker has a one year low of $48.07 and a one year high of $94.86. The company’s 50 day moving average is $57.56 and its 200 day moving average is $60.48. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 1.16.

Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The medical research company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.01. Bruker had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.52%. On average, research analysts expect that Bruker will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

Bruker Company Profile

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.