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

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

Bruker has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.7% annually over the last three years. Bruker has a dividend payout ratio of 6.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Performance

NASDAQ BRKR opened at $45.97 on Friday. Bruker has a 1 year low of $44.11 and a 1 year high of $94.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.97 billion, a PE ratio of 60.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.18. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.57.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on BRKR shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Bruker from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Bruker from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. 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, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Bruker from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Bruker in a report on Monday, February 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.