Sherman Asset Management Inc. Buys New Shares in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Sherman Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 266 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $138,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of TMO. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% during 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 period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 11.4% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,705 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,972,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the period. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 9.8% during the third quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 20,579 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $12,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,837 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 55,452 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $28,868,000 after purchasing an additional 10,606 shares during the period. Finally, S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 10,626 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,528,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of TMO stock opened at $528.99 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $549.37 and a 200-day moving average of $565.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $493.30 and a 12-month high of $627.88. The firm has a market cap of $199.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.00, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is currently 10.41%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 price target (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $656.86.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,984,264.64. This represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,125 shares of company stock worth $11,231,699. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.