Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) by 78.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,964 shares of the medical research company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,067 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $3,623,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TMO. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $876,152,000 after buying an additional 1,414,556 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 32.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,481,257 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,372,157,000 after acquiring an additional 604,895 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at $254,412,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 743.6% in 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 buying an additional 296,646 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on TMO shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $660.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays cut their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $648.95.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock traded down $5.35 on Wednesday, hitting $551.64. 3,251,296 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,182,221. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52 week low of $493.30 and a 52 week high of $627.88. The company has a market cap of $211.00 billion, a PE ratio of 34.59, a PEG ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.76. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $529.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $568.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.69 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.68 EPS for the current 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 shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific's payout ratio is currently 9.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $1,120,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,736 shares in the company, valued at $7,134,197.76. This trade represents a 13.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were 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 directly owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at $9,333,946.08. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,150 shares of company stock worth $25,954,465 over the last quarter. 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.