Fmr LLC Acquires 1,294,453 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Fmr LLC lifted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 19.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,294,453 shares during the period. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $4,872,761,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 76,051.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,416,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $876,152,000 after buying an additional 1,414,556 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the first quarter valued at about $705,636,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 32.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,481,257 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,372,157,000 after purchasing an additional 604,895 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth $254,412,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 743.6% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 336,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $186,105,000 after purchasing an additional 296,646 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $1,120,320.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,134,197.76. The trade was a 13.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $554.29, for a total value of $5,542,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,175,513.68. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,150 shares of company stock worth $20,651,865 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on TMO. UBS Group upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $680.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of TMO opened at $514.05 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $196.62 billion, a PE ratio of 32.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.79. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $480.57 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.63. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $573.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $579.75.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.25 by $0.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The business had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.63 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.69 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical research company to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.78%.

About Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc provides life sciences solutions, analytical instruments, specialty diagnostics, and laboratory products and biopharma services in the North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company's Life Sciences Solutions segment offers reagents, instruments, and consumables for biological and medical research, discovery, and production of drugs and vaccines, as well as diagnosis of infections and diseases; and solutions include biosciences, genetic sciences, and bio production to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agricultural, clinical, healthcare, academic, and government markets.