Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC Makes New $1.12 Million Investment in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 2,155 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,121,000. Thermo Fisher Scientific comprises approximately 1.0% of Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 54,575 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,759,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 31.4% during the third quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 8,292 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,982 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.2% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 99,921 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $61,808,000 after purchasing an additional 4,947 shares during the last quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. now owns 591 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 4.4% in the third quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 30,901 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $19,114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,312 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TMO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $656.86.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $528.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $549.37 and a 200 day moving average of $565.17. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $493.30 and a 1 year high of $627.88. The stock has a market cap of $199.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The business 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 $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is currently 10.41%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the 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 $175,677.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at $9,582,009.17. This represents a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total transaction of $5,302,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 111,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,960,669.92. This trade represents 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.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Company 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.