Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 230,382 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.7%, acquiring an additional 230,382 shares, raising its total ownership to approximately 33.48 million shares.
• Institutional investors own 89.23% of Thermo Fisher Scientific, reflecting increasing interest with multiple firms raising their stakes significantly in recent quarters.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific reported $5.36 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations, with revenue of $10.86 billion and a year-over-year revenue increase of 2.9%.

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) by 0.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,479,957 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 230,382 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 8.87% of Thermo Fisher Scientific worth $16,659,627,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Cypress Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $253,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,862 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,419,000 after purchasing an additional 877 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,321,633 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $687,553,000 after buying an additional 114,277 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 5,386 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,802,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Trust Company N.A boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A now owns 4,646 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,312,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on TMO shares. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $651.00 to $637.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Scotiabank raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $590.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Argus cut their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $470.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. HSBC restated a "hold" rating and issued a $510.00 price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $593.00.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

NYSE:TMO traded up $6.60 on Friday, reaching $461.34. 1,689,914 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,227,669. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $425.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $464.94. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52 week low of $385.46 and a 52 week high of $627.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market cap of $174.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.74.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.22 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $10.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.68 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 16.82%. Thermo Fisher Scientific's revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.37 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Thermo Fisher Scientific's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were 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 directly owned 115,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,340,824.30. This trade represents a 6.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $479.98, for a total transaction of $191,992.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,367 shares in the company, valued at $10,735,712.66. This trade represents a 1.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,400 shares of company stock worth $8,345,792. Company insiders own 0.33% 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.