Jones Financial Companies Lllp Acquires 18,762 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 27.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 86,915 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,762 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $45,216,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of TMO. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% during 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 last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 68,617.0% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 762,759 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $396,810,000 after purchasing an additional 761,649 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter worth about $254,412,000. Lindsell Train Ltd purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth about $211,858,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,935,377,000 after acquiring an additional 262,062 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TMO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 price target (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group increased their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America lowered 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $656.86.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE TMO opened at $528.99 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $199.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.00, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $549.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $565.17. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a twelve month low of $493.30 and a twelve month high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted 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%. Research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $15,984,264.64. This trade represents a 26.47 % 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 valued at $11,231,699 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.