Moran Wealth Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Moran Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,089 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $567,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter worth $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Barrett & Company Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on TMO shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report 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 report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup reduced 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 report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group upped 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 0.2 %

TMO stock opened at $512.94 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $549.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $560.46. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $493.30 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88. The firm has a market cap of $193.51 billion, a PE ratio of 31.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.43 dividend. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is 10.41%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has initiated a share buyback 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 generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $5,753,421.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. This represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $59,506,950.58. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062. Company 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.