Zions Bancorporation N.A. Increases Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 12.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,862 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,407 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $6,691,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TMO. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,872,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,453 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 68,617.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 761,649 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at $377,901,000. Lindsell Train Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at $211,858,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,810,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,461,913,000 after acquiring an additional 366,191 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on TMO. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America cut their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 price objective (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $653.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $175,677.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE TMO opened at $520.25 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $545.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $554.91. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a twelve month low of $493.30 and a twelve month high of $627.88. 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 $196.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.47, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its 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%. 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 currently 10.41%.

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.