Bruker Co. (BRKR) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.05 on December 16th

Bruker Co. (NASDAQ:BRKR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd.

Bruker has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.7% annually over the last three years. Bruker has a dividend payout ratio of 7.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Bruker to earn $2.76 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 7.2%.

Bruker Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BRKR opened at $57.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.20. The company has a market cap of $8.79 billion, a PE ratio of 27.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 1.20. Bruker has a 12-month low of $48.07 and a 12-month high of $94.86.

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

Insider Transactions at Bruker

In related news, CEO Frank H. Laukien acquired 100,000 shares of Bruker stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was acquired 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 directly owns 38,439,563 shares in the company, valued at $1,927,359,688.82. The trade was a 0.26 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BRKR has been the subject of several analyst reports. 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 report on Wednesday, November 6th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Bruker from $80.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research downgraded Bruker from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays decreased their price target on Bruker from $75.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Bruker from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company 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.