Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Purchases 32,397 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 242,272 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 32,397 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $149,862,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 318.2% during the second quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC now owns 46 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. New Millennium Group LLC bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the second quarter worth $29,000. Stephens Consulting LLC lifted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 116.0% during the 2nd quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 54 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TMO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays dropped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $625.00 to $620.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $680.00 target price on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of TMO opened at $529.63 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $566.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $577.69. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $487.06 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $202.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.63.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.25 by $0.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.78%.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,736 shares in the company, valued at $7,134,197.76. This represents a 13.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $554.29, for a total value of $5,542,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,175,513.68. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 37,150 shares of company stock valued at $20,651,865. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.