Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Buys 1,553 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 30,549 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,553 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $15,892,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in TMO. FMR LLC grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,294,453 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 68,617.0% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 762,759 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $396,810,000 after acquiring an additional 761,649 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter worth about $254,412,000. Lindsell Train Ltd bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $211,858,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,810,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,461,913,000 after purchasing an additional 366,191 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions 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 in the company, valued at $15,984,264.64. This represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $175,677.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on TMO shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE TMO opened at $524.63 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $548.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $563.46. The stock has a market cap of $197.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $493.30 and a 12-month high of $627.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan 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 reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.