Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $1.46 Billion Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 15.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,810,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 366,191 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $1,461,913,000 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 the stock. Unified Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth $400,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,643 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,895,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 10,034 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,220,000 after buying an additional 702 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 8,730 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,558,000 after buying an additional 1,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bellecapital International Ltd. increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. Bellecapital International Ltd. now owns 12,674 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,593,000 after buying an additional 2,506 shares during the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TMO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 price objective (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $656.86.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of TMO stock opened at $523.00 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $197.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.64, a PEG ratio of 2.99 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $549.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $564.35. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52 week low of $493.30 and a 52 week high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. This is an increase from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is currently 10.41%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,984,264.64. The trade was a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Profile

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.