Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) Receives $658.00 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-two ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $658.00.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TMO. StockNews.com raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America cut their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $5,753,421.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,296 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. This trade represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total value of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 111,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $58,960,669.92. The trade was a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,125 shares of company stock worth $11,231,699. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Thermo Fisher Scientific

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 127,564 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 11.4% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,705 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $5,972,000 after buying an additional 995 shares during the period. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 20,579 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $12,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,837 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 55,452 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $28,868,000 after buying an additional 10,606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 10,626 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $5,528,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of TMO traded down $5.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $532.55. The stock had a trading volume of 1,613,862 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,087,588. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a 52 week low of $493.30 and a 52 week high of $627.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.77. The company's fifty day moving average is $548.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $568.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. On average, analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.44%.

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.