Advisors Asset Management Inc. Acquires 1,179 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) by 5.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,703 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,179 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $13,425,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,493,852 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $7,842,762,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231,059 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,054,621 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $5,843,848,000 after buying an additional 156,675 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,113,137 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $4,715,436,000 after acquiring an additional 123,523 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 32.2% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,481,257 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,372,157,000 after acquiring an additional 604,895 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,740,482 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $962,482,000 after purchasing an additional 20,075 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,736 shares in the company, valued at $7,134,197.76. This trade represents a 13.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total transaction of $4,975,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,076,178.88. The trade was a 38.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,150 shares of company stock worth $20,651,865 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE TMO traded up $3.74 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $512.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,533,866 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,491,699. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $581.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $581.46. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $476.45 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.92, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.79.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) last released 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 return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. The business's revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.69 earnings per share. Equities research 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 of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America raised their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $660.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $649.33.

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.