Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC Acquires New Shares in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Atlanta Consulting Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,071 shares of the medical research company's stock, valued at approximately $662,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of TMO. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 318.2% in the second quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC now owns 46 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Stephens Consulting LLC lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 116.0% in the second quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 54 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the second quarter valued at $33,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of TMO stock traded down $19.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $513.08. 3,953,117 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,404,541. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $464.17 and a 12-month 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.79. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $586.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $582.34.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.69 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $168,048.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,663 shares of the company's stock, 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 at this link. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the business'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 value of $1,120,320.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,736 shares in the company, valued at $7,134,197.76. The trade was a 13.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 37,150 shares of company stock valued at $20,651,865. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on TMO. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $680.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific 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.