T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Increases Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) by 86.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,083,900 shares of the medical research company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,433,444 shares during the quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific makes up approximately 1.0% of T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned 0.81% of Thermo Fisher Scientific worth $1,604,338,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of TMO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,249,575 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $17,297,426,000 after purchasing an additional 196,864 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,430,120 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $4,905,812,000 after acquiring an additional 104,343 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,857,385 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $4,075,540,000 after buying an additional 197,442 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,149,754,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,935,377,000 after buying an additional 262,062 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on TMO shares. Scotiabank cut their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $605.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $715.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $651.00 to $637.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $667.00 price target (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $616.95.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock traded down $5.46 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $418.78. The company had a trading volume of 928,001 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,740,516. The company has a 50 day moving average of $487.28 and a 200 day moving average of $526.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $409.85 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.10 by $0.05. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. The firm had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.11 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. This is an increase from Thermo Fisher Scientific's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.52, for a total transaction of $2,010,263.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,759,736.32. The trade was a 25.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total value of $5,166,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,506,950.58. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.