Townsquare Capital LLC Buys 3,447 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 4.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 82,905 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,447 shares during the quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific comprises 0.6% of Townsquare Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $51,283,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5,688.8% in the third quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 6,715 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,154,000 after buying an additional 6,599 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 54,340 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,415 shares in the last quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 102.1% in the third quarter. Principal Street Partners LLC now owns 764 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $473,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 3,198 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,979,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 2,507 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,551,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

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 that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was 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 $9,333,946.08. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $554.29, for a total value of $5,542,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,175,513.68. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,150 shares of company stock valued at $20,651,865 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

TMO stock opened at $512.99 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market cap of $196.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $571.75 and its 200 day moving average is $579.18. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52 week low of $480.57 and a 52 week high of $627.88.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.25 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.69 EPS. Research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Bernstein Bank boosted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target 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. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $680.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.33.

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.