Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. Increases Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,521 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $1,311,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,531,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. Semus Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 471 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Bangor Savings Bank raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $174,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 7,463 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,882,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KRS Capital Management LLC increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC now owns 1,317 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $532.52, for a total value of $2,010,263.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,759,736.32. This represents a 25.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,582,009.17. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TMO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lowered their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $475.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $642.67.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of TMO opened at $426.11 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50-day moving average of $497.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $533.64. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $409.85 and a 12-month high of $627.88. The stock has a market cap of $160.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.78, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. As a group, research analysts predict 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 was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.41%.

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.