Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Increases Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,602 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $2,394,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Naviter Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 29.8% in the fourth quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 4,402 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,292,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. Marble Harbor Investment Counsel LLC increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. Marble Harbor Investment Counsel LLC now owns 723 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 5,412 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,815,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 166,802 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $86,776,000 after acquiring an additional 12,371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arjuna Capital increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Arjuna Capital now owns 16,884 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $8,784,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $5,753,421.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. The trade was a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total value of $5,166,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at $59,506,950.58. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,125 shares of company stock worth $11,095,799 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE TMO opened at $531.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $549.11 and a 200-day moving average of $562.32. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12 month low of $493.30 and a 12 month high of $627.88. The company has a market cap of $200.60 billion, a PE ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is currently 10.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 price target (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $653.23.

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.