SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Purchases New Shares in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 744 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $387,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Barrett & Company Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was 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. This represents a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value 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. The trade was a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 price target (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $516.57 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $549.08 and its 200-day moving average is $563.73. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 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 company has a market capitalization of $194.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.25, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77.

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

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.41%.

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.