Brighton Jones LLC Grows Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 28.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,409 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 988 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $2,293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 76,051.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,416,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $876,152,000 after acquiring an additional 1,414,556 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% during the third 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 in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $254,412,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,935,377,000 after buying an additional 262,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 66.9% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 646,692 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $400,024,000 after acquiring an additional 259,123 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 5,850 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.89, for a total value of $3,263,656.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,611,804.88. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 44,850 shares of company stock worth $24,666,097 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 subject of several research reports. Bernstein Bank boosted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $680.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $648.95.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $575.21 on Friday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $532.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $569.05. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $493.30 and a 12-month high of $627.88. The company has a market capitalization of $220.02 billion, a PE ratio of 36.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.76.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.69 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.27%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.78%.

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.