Raymond James Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO)

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by investment analysts at Raymond James in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $667.00 price objective on the medical research company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $650.00. Raymond James’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 12.30% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $605.00 price target for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $655.95.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of TMO stock opened at $593.94 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $541.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $571.18. The company has a market capitalization of $227.18 billion, a PE ratio of 35.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.77. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a twelve month low of $493.30 and a twelve month high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued 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 return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific will post 23.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 111,192 shares in the company, valued at $58,960,669.92. This represents a 8.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 29,000 shares of company stock valued at $15,859,540. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Thermo Fisher Scientific

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