Eads & Heald Wealth Management Raises Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Eads & Heald Wealth Management grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,512 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Thermo Fisher Scientific makes up 1.2% of Eads & Heald Wealth Management’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Eads & Heald Wealth Management’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $2,347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at about $210,000. XML Financial LLC raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 49.6% during the 4th quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 863 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $449,000 after buying an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 147,421 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $76,750,000 after acquiring an additional 6,713 shares during the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 2,570 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,337,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Finally, Red Spruce Capital LLC lifted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 1,837 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $956,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total value of $5,302,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,960,669.92. The trade was a 8.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $168,048.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,333,946.08. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 47,150 shares of company stock worth $25,954,465. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TMO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $605.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bernstein Bank lifted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $648.95.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE TMO opened at $572.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.11 billion, a PE ratio of 35.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $530.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $568.73. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52 week low of $493.30 and a 52 week high of $627.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.69 EPS. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.27%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is currently 9.78%.

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.