Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) Shares Purchased by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 0.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,133,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares during the quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific makes up about 0.5% of Swiss National Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.30% of Thermo Fisher Scientific worth $700,840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,231,059 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 156,675 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 123,523 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 32.2% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,481,257 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,372,157,000 after purchasing an additional 604,895 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.4% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,236,776 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,300,036,000 after purchasing an additional 8,046 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TMO. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Stephens began coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $680.00 price target on the stock. Four 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 3.7 %

NYSE:TMO opened at $513.08 on Friday. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $586.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $582.34. The stock has a market cap of $196.25 billion, a PE ratio of 32.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.79.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $1,120,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $168,048.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,333,946.08. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 37,150 shares of company stock valued at $20,651,865. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific 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.