Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. Has $901,000 Stock Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. lifted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 34.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,456 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 373 shares during the period. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of TMO. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 24,580 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,282,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the last quarter. Connors Investor Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 1st quarter valued at about $6,832,000. Blue Barn Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 85.6% in the 1st quarter. Blue Barn Wealth LLC now owns 822 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $478,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,661,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on TMO. UBS Group raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays lowered 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 report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens began coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $680.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock traded down $19.94 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $513.08. 3,953,117 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,474,214. The company’s fifty day moving average is $586.43 and its 200-day moving average is $582.24. The firm has a market cap of $196.25 billion, a PE ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.79. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52 week low of $464.17 and a 52 week high of $627.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.63.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.69 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.69 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has initiated a share buyback 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 reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $168,048.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at $9,333,946.08. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $554.29, for a total transaction of $5,542,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,175,513.68. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,150 shares of company stock valued at $20,651,865 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.