Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 489 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 489 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TMO. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Barrett & Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. 89.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised 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, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $656.86.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 1.2 %

TMO stock opened at $533.00 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $549.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $566.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a twelve month low of $493.30 and a twelve month high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan 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 buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total value of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares in the company, valued at $58,960,669.92. The trade was a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $5,753,421.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. This represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,125 shares of company stock valued at $11,231,699. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.