Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 17,938 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) by 2,088.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,797 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 17,938 shares during the period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $9,779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. 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 valued at $4,872,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294,453 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 68,617.0% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 762,759 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $396,810,000 after acquiring an additional 761,649 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter valued at $254,412,000. Lindsell Train Ltd bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at $211,858,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,810,128 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,461,913,000 after acquiring an additional 366,191 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on TMO. Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $667.00 price objective (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America reduced their price objective 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. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock traded down $7.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $516.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,720,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,056,704. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12 month low of $493.30 and a 12 month high of $627.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $549.08 and a 200 day moving average of $563.73. The company has a market capitalization of $194.88 billion, a PE ratio of 31.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. Analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. Thermo Fisher Scientific's dividend payout ratio is 10.41%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical research company to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,582,009.17. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,296 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. The trade was a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

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.