Renasant Bank Acquires 61 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Renasant Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,659 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the quarter. Renasant Bank’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of TMO. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% during the 3rd 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. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 68,617.0% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 762,759 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $396,810,000 after purchasing an additional 761,649 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter valued at about $377,901,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $254,412,000. Finally, Lindsell Train Ltd purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $211,858,000. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on TMO. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America reduced their target price on 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. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 price target (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $653.23.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,296 shares in the company, valued at $15,984,264.64. The trade was a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at $9,582,009.17. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 0.8 %

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $508.62 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52 week low of $493.30 and a 52 week high of $627.88. The firm has a market cap of $191.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $548.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $560.10. 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 (NYSE:TMO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.41%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has authorized 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 reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.