Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Grows Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 2.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,831 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 764 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $15,391,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of TMO. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.8% in the first quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,199 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Cedar Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 14.5% in the first quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 134 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Lafayette Investments Inc. raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.1% in the second quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 830 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the period. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.8% in the second quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 1,031 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Drive Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.9% in the second quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,123 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,175,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on TMO. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $664.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 target price (up previously from $600.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $615.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $670.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $630.41.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TMO traded up $4.45 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $611.33. The stock had a trading volume of 1,868,789 shares, compared to its average volume of 938,285. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $584.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $577.99. The company has a market capitalization of $233.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $415.60 and a fifty-two week high of $622.30.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $5.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.13 by $0.24. The company had revenue of $10.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.50 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 18.22%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.15 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.01%.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.85, for a total transaction of $180,255.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,747,403.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.85, for a total transaction of $180,255.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,747,403.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Joseph R. Holmes sold 860 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $611.03, for a total transaction of $525,485.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 1,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,108,408.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 23,084 shares of company stock valued at $14,094,292. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.