DnB Asset Management AS Purchases 2,810 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

DnB Asset Management AS boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 201,281 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,810 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS owned 0.05% of Thermo Fisher Scientific worth $104,712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TMO. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 54,575 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,759,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 22.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,247,838 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $771,876,000 after buying an additional 225,568 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 10,158 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,283,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 6,027 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,728,000 after acquiring an additional 693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on TMO shares. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

NYSE TMO opened at $511.69 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $542.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $553.64. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a twelve month low of $493.30 and a twelve month high of $627.88. The company has a market capitalization of $193.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.96, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. 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 (NYSE:TMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.34%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is 10.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.52, for a total value of $2,010,263.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,759,736.32. This trade represents a 25.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was 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 directly owns 27,296 shares in the company, valued at $15,984,264.64. This trade represents a 26.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.