Virtu Financial LLC Invests $638,000 in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,032 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $638,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TMO. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 30.3% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 829 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $482,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 92,057 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $50,908,000 after purchasing an additional 2,591 shares in the last quarter. First Pacific Financial grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.2% during the second quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 2,303 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,273,000 after buying an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.9% in the second quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 72,317 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $39,991,000 after buying an additional 2,714 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.0% during the second quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 23,081 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $12,764,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on TMO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $652.30.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

NYSE TMO opened at $526.89 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $201.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.77. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1-year low of $493.30 and a 1-year high of $627.88. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $550.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $573.72.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is presently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was 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 $7,134,197.76. The trade was a 13.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total value of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 111,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,960,669.92. The trade was a 8.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 47,150 shares of company stock worth $25,954,465. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.