Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) Stock Price

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) had its target price raised by Morgan Stanley from $647.00 to $678.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the medical research company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on TMO. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $655.64.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

TMO opened at $598.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $541.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $570.96. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a one year low of $493.30 and a one year high of $627.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.76.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific will post 21.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total transaction of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 111,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,960,669.92. This trade represents a 8.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 29,000 shares of company stock worth $15,859,540 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Thermo Fisher Scientific

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TMO. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 76,051.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,416,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $876,152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,414,556 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,294,453 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter worth about $254,412,000. Lindsell Train Ltd acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $211,858,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 262,062 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.23% 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.