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

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 19th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.05 per share by the medical research company on Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.38%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd.

Bruker has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.7% per year over the last three years. Bruker has a payout ratio of 7.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Bruker to earn $2.80 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 7.1%.

Bruker Trading Up 7.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ BRKR traded up $3.76 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $52.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 439,212 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,083,080. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.66. Bruker has a 12 month low of $48.07 and a 12 month high of $94.86. The stock has a market cap of $7.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.92.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Frank H. Laukien bought 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $50.14 per share, with a total value of $5,014,000.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 38,439,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,927,359,688.82. This represents a 0.26 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BRKR shares. Barclays lowered their price target on Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Bruker from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.36.

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.