SVB Wealth LLC Invests $3.55 Million in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 6,815 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,545,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of TMO. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.5% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 31.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 8,292 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,129,000 after buying an additional 1,982 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 99,921 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $61,808,000 after acquiring an additional 4,947 shares during the period. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 4.2% in the third quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. now owns 591 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Finally, Dash Acquisitions Inc. increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 4.4% during the third quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 30,901 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $19,114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,312 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TMO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 price target (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, February 3rd. 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. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $656.86.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:TMO opened at $528.99 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $493.30 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88. The stock has a market cap of $199.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $549.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $565.17.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

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

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares in the company, valued at $58,960,669.92. This trade represents a 8.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,125 shares of company stock valued at $11,231,699. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.