Great Lakes Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 203,668 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 4,404 shares during the period. Thermo Fisher Scientific accounts for 0.9% of Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $105,954,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,872,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,453 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 68,617.0% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 762,759 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $396,810,000 after buying an additional 761,649 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $377,901,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at approximately $254,412,000. Finally, Lindsell Train Ltd bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter worth approximately $211,858,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on TMO shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total value of $5,166,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,506,950.58. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.52, for a total value of $2,010,263.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,759,736.32. This represents a 25.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of TMO opened at $514.40 on Wednesday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1-year low of $493.30 and a 1-year high of $627.88. The company has a 50-day moving average of $549.14 and a 200 day moving average of $560.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $194.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.12, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. On average, research analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is currently 10.41%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared 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 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific 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.