Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Boosts Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 116.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 344,068 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 184,797 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $212,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Lafayette Investments Inc. boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.1% during the second quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 830 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $459,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. IFG Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. IFG Advisors LLC now owns 532 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $329,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 1,031 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $570,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.9% in the second quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,123 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,175,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.0% during the second quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,886 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TMO has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective 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. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $680.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $529.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $202.58 billion, a PE ratio of 33.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.79. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12 month low of $487.06 and a 12 month high of $627.88. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $566.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $577.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.69 earnings per share. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total value of $4,975,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,076,178.88. This represents a 38.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $168,048.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,333,946.08. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,150 shares of company stock valued at $20,651,865 in the last ninety days. 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.