Old North State Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Old North State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 528 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 65 shares during the quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $275,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in TMO. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

NYSE TMO opened at $580.63 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.13, a P/E/G ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66. The business’s fifty day moving average is $542.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $571.55. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $493.30 and a 1 year high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced 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 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. On average, research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is 9.44%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,960,669.92. The trade was a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TMO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI lowered 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 research report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded 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, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $658.00.

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.