AGF Management Ltd. Grows Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Key Points

• AGF Management Ltd. increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 47.3%, owning approximately 0.05% of the company, valued at $97.89 million.
• Following several analyst reports, Thermo Fisher Scientific received a downgrade to "hold" from Wall Street Zen, while Barclays and Robert W. Baird raised their price targets and gave it a rating of "equal weight" and "outperform," respectively.
• CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher stock, resulting in a 7.99% decrease in his holdings after the sale.

AGF Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) by 47.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 196,727 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 63,201 shares during the quarter. AGF Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.05% of Thermo Fisher Scientific worth $97,891,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,479,957 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $16,659,627,000 after buying an additional 230,382 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,430,120 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $4,905,812,000 after buying an additional 104,343 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,910,015 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,034,107,000 after purchasing an additional 455,004 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 86.9% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,083,900 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,604,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,433,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 4.1% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,925,591 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,455,774,000 after purchasing an additional 115,463 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on TMO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $610.00 price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $570.00 to $565.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $460.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Hsbc Global Res cut Thermo Fisher Scientific from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $665.00 to $620.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $593.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 400 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $479.98, for a total value of $191,992.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,367 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,735,712.66. The trade was a 1.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 8,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $454.45, for a total value of $3,635,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 115,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $52,340,824.30. This represents a 6.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,400 shares of company stock worth $8,345,792 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 0.2%

TMO traded up $0.83 during trading on Thursday, hitting $485.62. 1,955,228 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,498,410. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $431.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $462.11. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $385.46 and a 12-month high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.22 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $10.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.68 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 16.82% and a net margin of 15.24%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.37 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 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, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Thermo Fisher Scientific's payout ratio is 9.95%.

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.