Mizuho Bank Ltd. Buys Shares of 110 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Mizuho Bank Ltd. acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 110 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of TMO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,249,575 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $17,297,426,000 after purchasing an additional 196,864 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,857,385 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,075,540,000 after buying an additional 197,442 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,149,754,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,935,377,000 after acquiring an additional 262,062 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,860,847 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,556,689,000 after acquiring an additional 340,263 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 6.9 %

Shares of NYSE:TMO opened at $437.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $165.13 billion, a PE ratio of 26.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $532.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $547.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $437.22 and a 12-month high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. 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 dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $5,753,421.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,984,264.64. This trade represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,759,736.32. This trade represents a 25.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.