Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Has $57.36 Million Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 110,251 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,986 shares during the period. Thermo Fisher Scientific accounts for 1.4% of Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $57,356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in TMO. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,872,761,000 after buying an additional 1,294,453 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 68,617.0% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 762,759 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $396,810,000 after purchasing an additional 761,649 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter valued at $377,901,000. Lindsell Train Ltd bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth about $211,858,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,810,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,461,913,000 after buying an additional 366,191 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on TMO. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 price objective (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

TMO opened at $520.25 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $545.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $554.91. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a one year low of $493.30 and a one year high of $627.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm 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 is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is currently 10.41%.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,984,264.64. The trade was a 26.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total value of $5,166,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at $59,506,950.58. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062 over the last ninety days. Company 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.