Accredited Investors Inc. Acquires 75 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Accredited Investors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 981 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the quarter. Accredited Investors Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $607,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 318.2% during the second quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC now owns 46 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. New Millennium Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Stephens Consulting LLC increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 116.0% in the 2nd quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 54 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the second quarter worth $33,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total transaction of $4,975,740.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,076,178.88. This trade represents a 38.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,134,197.76. This trade represents a 13.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,150 shares of company stock worth $20,651,865 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 3.7 %

NYSE TMO opened at $513.08 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52 week low of $464.17 and a 52 week high of $627.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $196.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $586.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $582.34.

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. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The company 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 firm posted $5.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on TMO shares. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $625.00 to $620.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $680.00 price objective for the company. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.33.

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.