Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Acquires 11,131 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 12.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 98,868 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,131 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $51,585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of TMO. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 100,798.8% during the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 406,539,228 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $212,111,842,000 after purchasing an additional 406,136,310 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 104,536.8% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,355,245 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,601,150,000 after acquiring an additional 8,347,260 shares during the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 61,754.7% during the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,842,175 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,136,000 after acquiring an additional 5,832,730 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,105,677,000. Finally, Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC lifted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 30,904.9% during the second quarter. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC now owns 3,124,051 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,209,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113,975 shares during the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE:TMO opened at $466.42 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.56, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $479.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $514.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1-year low of $415.60 and a 1-year high of $609.85.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 25th. The medical research company reported $5.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.61 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $10.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.60 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 13.68% and a return on equity of 18.88%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.52 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 16th. Investors of record on Friday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 14th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.17%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, November 14th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to repurchase up to 2.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $625.00 to $585.00 in a research report on Friday, September 29th. TheStreet cut shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Monday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $657.00 to $579.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $664.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $593.94.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.15, for a total transaction of $4,561,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 131,175 shares in the company, valued at $59,835,476.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $456.15, for a total value of $4,561,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 131,175 shares in the company, valued at $59,835,476.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 3,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.77, for a total transaction of $1,673,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,556 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,792,210.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,000 shares of company stock worth $10,778,910. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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 United States 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, clinical next-generation sequencing, bio production to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agricultural, clinical, healthcare, academic, and government markets.