Midwest Professional Planners LTD. Has $428,000 Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Midwest Professional Planners LTD. boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 823 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Midwest Professional Planners LTD.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $428,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 34.0% in the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,600 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,353,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $7,117,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the last quarter. Renasant Bank raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Renasant Bank now owns 1,659 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 95,109 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $49,479,000 after purchasing an additional 3,236 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $342,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $523.44 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $548.54 and a 200-day moving average of $559.53. The stock has a market cap of $197.47 billion, a PE ratio of 31.67, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $493.30 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its earnings results 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is 10.41%.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total value of $5,166,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,506,950.58. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $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 have sold 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on TMO shares. 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 report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $653.23.

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.