Merit Financial Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) by 54.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,851 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,470 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $5,125,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of TMO. State Street Corp grew its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,318,961 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $10,100,655,000 after buying an additional 124,996 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $4,872,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294,453 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,659,943 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $4,719,477,000 after acquiring an additional 127,564 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,935,377,000 after purchasing an additional 262,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,636,558 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,630,896,000 after purchasing an additional 65,586 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company's stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 0.4 %

TMO traded down $1.99 on Friday, hitting $559.72. The company had a trading volume of 2,134,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,426,114. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $493.30 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $529.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $568.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.69 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was 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 owns 16,663 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,333,946.08. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $554.29, for a total transaction of $5,542,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,192 shares in the company, valued at $67,175,513.68. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,150 shares of company stock worth $25,954,465. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen upped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI reduced 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 report on Thursday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $648.95.

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.