Atom Investors LP Raises Stock Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Atom Investors LP boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 353.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,086 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,743 shares during the quarter. Atom Investors LP’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $3,765,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of TMO. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 2nd quarter worth $117,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 30.7% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,174 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,845,000 after purchasing an additional 745 shares in the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 2nd quarter valued at about $122,000. Finally, Value Partners Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 4,751 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,627,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays decreased their price target on 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. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $529.63 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.63. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $487.06 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88. The company has a fifty day moving average of $566.33 and a 200 day moving average of $577.69. The company has a market capitalization of $202.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 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 for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.63 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.69 earnings per share. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has approved a stock buyback 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 typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $1,120,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,134,197.76. This represents a 13.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $168,048.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,333,946.08. This trade represents 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 valued at $20,651,865 over the last 90 days. 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.