Busey Bank Purchases 1,044 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Busey Bank lifted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 30,231 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,044 shares during the quarter. Busey Bank’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $15,727,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TMO. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 76,051.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,414,556 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,872,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,453 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at approximately $254,412,000. Lindsell Train Ltd purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $211,858,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,935,377,000 after acquiring an additional 262,062 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.12, for a total transaction of $5,581,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 33,608 shares in the company, valued at $18,757,296.96. This trade represents a 22.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 34,850 shares of company stock valued at $19,123,197. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of TMO stock opened at $567.09 on Thursday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a one year low of $493.30 and a one year high of $627.88. 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’s 50 day moving average price is $536.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $570.35. The firm has a market cap of $216.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.76.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.69 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on TMO shares. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America cut 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 report on Friday, December 13th. Bernstein Bank increased their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $648.95.

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.