West Family Investments Inc. Purchases 489 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

West Family Investments Inc. raised its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 85.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,062 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $657,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 318.2% in the 2nd quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC now owns 46 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Stephens Consulting LLC raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 116.0% in the 2nd quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 54 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on TMO. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $680.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price 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. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $680.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut 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 research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

TMO opened at $501.50 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $584.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $581.90. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1-year low of $465.90 and a 1-year high of $627.88. The company has a market cap of $191.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.44, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.79.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.69 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.31%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share 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 repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total value of $4,975,740.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,076,178.88. This represents a 38.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $168,048.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,333,946.08. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,150 shares of company stock worth $20,651,865 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.