Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $771.88 Million Stock Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,247,838 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 225,568 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $771,876,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,414,556 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,493,852 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,842,762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,059 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 1st quarter valued at $705,636,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 32.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,481,257 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,372,157,000 after purchasing an additional 604,895 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 743.6% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 336,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $186,105,000 after purchasing an additional 296,646 shares during the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TMO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $680.00 price objective on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:TMO opened at $559.68 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $596.33 and its 200-day moving average is $583.80. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $437.26 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 company has a market capitalization of $214.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.79.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.25 by $0.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. The business had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 5,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was 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 $67,611,804.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 5,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was 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 $67,611,804.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value 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 approximately $7,134,197.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 18,150 shares of company stock valued at $10,094,925. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.