BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Boosts Stock Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 180,801 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,727 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.'s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $111,838,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TMO. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 76,051.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,416,416 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $876,152,000 after buying an additional 1,414,556 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the first quarter valued at approximately $705,636,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 32.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,481,257 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $1,372,157,000 after acquiring an additional 604,895 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter valued at about $254,412,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 743.6% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 336,537 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $186,105,000 after purchasing an additional 296,646 shares during the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $680.00 price target for the company. Barclays reduced their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $649.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $554.29, for a total value of $5,542,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $67,175,513.68. This represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $1,120,320.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,736 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,134,197.76. This represents a 13.57 % 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 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $512.86 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $579.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $580.98. The company has a market capitalization of $196.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.79. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $476.45 and a 12-month high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.69 EPS. The company's revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is presently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.

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