Trust Co. of Vermont Grows Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Trust Co. of Vermont increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 46,505 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 3,070 shares during the period. Thermo Fisher Scientific accounts for about 1.2% of Trust Co. of Vermont’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $24,193,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the second quarter valued at about $50,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $605.00 price target on the stock. Bernstein Bank increased their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $680.00 target price on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $648.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $168,048.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,333,946.08. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $1,120,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,134,197.76. This trade represents a 13.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,150 shares of company stock valued at $25,954,465 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

TMO stock traded down $1.99 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $559.72. 2,134,669 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,426,114. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $214.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $529.80 and its 200 day moving average is $567.97. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $493.30 and a 12-month high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The company’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.69 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.68 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Company Profile

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.