Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.43 Per Share

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.43 per share by the medical research company on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a 10.3% increase from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has increased its dividend by an average of 14.5% annually over the last three years. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a payout ratio of 6.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Thermo Fisher Scientific to earn $25.56 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.7%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 2.4 %

NYSE:TMO opened at $514.40 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $549.14 and a 200 day moving average of $560.79. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a 52 week low of $493.30 and a 52 week high of $627.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $194.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. 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 posted 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TMO. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 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 Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total transaction of $5,166,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,506,950.58. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $532.52, for a total value of $2,010,263.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,759,736.32. This trade represents a 25.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Thermo Fisher Scientific

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 28.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,409 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 988 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $2,293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% 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.