Short Interest in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) Rises By 21.6%

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,790,000 shares, an increase of 21.6% from the March 31st total of 3,940,000 shares. Currently, 1.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,210,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total value of $5,166,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at $59,506,950.58. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $532.52, for a total value of $2,010,263.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,816 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,759,736.32. This trade represents a 25.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 14,075 shares of company stock worth $7,305,942. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Thermo Fisher Scientific

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cypress Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter worth about $253,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 55,452 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $28,868,000 after purchasing an additional 10,606 shares in the last quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 10,626 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $5,528,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares during the period. Czech National Bank grew its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 82,934 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $43,145,000 after purchasing an additional 5,118 shares during the period. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 182,511 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $94,948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,460 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company's stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock traded down $6.39 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $415.88. The stock had a trading volume of 1,055,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,770,379. The business has a fifty day moving average of $473.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $519.36. The firm has a market cap of $156.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.16, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.82. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a fifty-two week low of $409.85 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.10 by $0.05. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The business had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.11 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific's payout ratio is presently 10.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on TMO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $610.00 target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com cut Thermo Fisher Scientific from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective 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, April 24th. Raymond James reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $667.00 price target (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $651.00 to $637.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $607.43.

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.