Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.43

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.43 per share by the medical research company on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has raised its dividend payment by an average of 14.5% annually over the last three years. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a dividend payout ratio of 6.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Thermo Fisher Scientific to earn $25.56 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.1%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 1.0 %

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock traded down $5.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $532.55. The company had a trading volume of 1,613,862 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,087,588. The stock has a market cap of $203.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.22, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a 1 year low of $493.30 and a 1 year high of $627.88. The business has a fifty day moving average of $548.47 and a 200 day moving average of $567.70.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $630.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $658.00.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program 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 purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company's 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 in the company, valued at $58,960,669.92. This represents a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,125 shares of company stock worth $11,231,699 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.