L & S Advisors Inc Purchases 4,684 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

L & S Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 156.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,674 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,684 shares during the quarter. L & S Advisors Inc’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $4,747,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,054,621 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,843,848,000 after buying an additional 156,675 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 32.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,481,257 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,372,157,000 after buying an additional 604,895 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,740,482 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $962,482,000 after buying an additional 20,075 shares in the last quarter. Unisphere Establishment increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 1,500,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $829,500,000 after buying an additional 100,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 76,051.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,416,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $876,152,000 after buying an additional 1,414,556 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on TMO shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $168,048.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at $9,333,946.08. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total value of $4,975,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,076,178.88. The trade was a 38.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,150 shares of company stock worth $20,651,865 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:TMO opened at $512.86 on Thursday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $476.45 and a 1 year high of $627.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $196.17 billion, a PE ratio of 32.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $579.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $580.98. 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 (NYSE:TMO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.69 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

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

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

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.