LaFleur & Godfrey LLC Buys 2,488 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 9.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,767 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 2,488 shares during the quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific makes up approximately 2.1% of LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $15,486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TMO. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,318,961 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,100,655,000 after buying an additional 124,996 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,294,453 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,659,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,719,477,000 after purchasing an additional 127,564 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 262,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,636,558 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,630,896,000 after buying an additional 65,586 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total transaction of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares in the company, valued at $58,960,669.92. The trade was a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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 that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $168,048.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,333,946.08. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 47,150 shares of company stock worth $25,954,465. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on TMO. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $648.95.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

TMO opened at $559.72 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $214.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.09, a PEG ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $493.30 and a 12-month high of $627.88. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $529.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $568.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.69 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.68 earnings per share for the current year.

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 shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical research company to repurchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.