Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. Has $901,000 Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 34.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,456 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 373 shares during the period. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 10.0% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,493,852 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,842,762,000 after buying an additional 1,231,059 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,054,621 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,843,848,000 after buying an additional 156,675 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.5% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,113,137 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,715,436,000 after buying an additional 123,523 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 32.2% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,481,257 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,372,157,000 after purchasing an additional 604,895 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.4% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,236,776 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,300,036,000 after purchasing an additional 8,046 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $625.00 to $620.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of TMO traded down $19.94 on Friday, hitting $513.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,953,117 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,474,214. The company has a market capitalization of $196.25 billion, a PE ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $464.17 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $586.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $582.24.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. The firm had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $168,048.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,333,946.08. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $1,120,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,134,197.76. The trade was a 13.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 37,150 shares of company stock worth $20,651,865. 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.