538 Shares in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) Acquired by Hughes Financial Services LLC

Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 538 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $280,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Barrett & Company Inc. purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total transaction of $5,166,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,506,950.58. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $508.62 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $493.30 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.77, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $548.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $560.10. 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 (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.41%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback 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 buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.