Bernard Wealth Management Corp. Purchases New Shares in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 76 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,249,575 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $17,297,426,000 after acquiring an additional 196,864 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,857,385 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,075,540,000 after purchasing an additional 197,442 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at $3,149,754,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,935,377,000 after purchasing an additional 262,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,860,847 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,556,689,000 after buying an additional 340,263 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on TMO shares. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $417.57 on Wednesday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $411.21 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66. The company has a market cap of $157.53 billion, a PE ratio of 25.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $522.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $543.48.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is currently 10.41%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,506,950.58. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $5,753,421.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. The trade was a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.