Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) Shares Purchased by Rathbones Group PLC

Rathbones Group PLC raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 796,317 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,825 shares during the period. Thermo Fisher Scientific accounts for 2.0% of Rathbones Group PLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $414,268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,659,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,719,477,000 after purchasing an additional 127,564 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 11.4% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,705 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,972,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the period. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 9.8% during the third quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 20,579 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $12,730,000 after buying an additional 1,837 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 55,452 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $28,868,000 after acquiring an additional 10,606 shares during the period. Finally, S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC lifted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 10,626 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,528,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TMO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. 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, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $437.71 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $165.13 billion, a PE ratio of 26.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $411.12 and a 1 year high of $627.88. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $532.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $547.03. 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts forecast 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total value of $5,166,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,506,950.58. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. This represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. 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.