Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,228,978 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 12,063 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.33% of Thermo Fisher Scientific worth $611,540,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of TMO. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 77,770 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $38,698,000 after buying an additional 2,618 shares in the last quarter. St. James Investment Company LLC bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 1st quarter worth $383,000. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,443 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $719,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. R.H. Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. R.H. Investment Group LLC now owns 9,064 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $4,510,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Novem Group grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Novem Group now owns 647 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $429.93, for a total value of $128,979.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 23,167 shares in the company, valued at $9,960,188.31. This trade represents a 1.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $665.00 to $620.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $605.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Argus dropped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $470.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $610.00 price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $604.05.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 0.1%

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock traded up $0.49 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $428.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,359,321 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,971,505. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $409.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $481.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.38. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $385.46 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $161.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.12, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.77.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.10 by $0.05. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.15% and a net margin of 15.19%. The firm had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.23 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.11 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific's payout ratio is 10.09%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific 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.