Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eighteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $655.64.

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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. Robert W. Baird decreased 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 research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:TMO opened at $598.40 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a 1-year low of $493.30 and a 1-year high of $627.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $541.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $571.07. The stock has a market cap of $228.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.76.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. Sell-side analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific will post 21.69 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 9.78%.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 29,000 shares of company stock worth $15,859,540. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Thermo Fisher Scientific

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,318,961 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,100,655,000 after buying an additional 124,996 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,872,761,000 after buying an additional 1,294,453 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,659,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,719,477,000 after purchasing an additional 127,564 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,935,377,000 after buying an additional 262,062 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,636,558 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,630,896,000 after purchasing an additional 65,586 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Company 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.