Banco Santander S.A. Has $41.52 Million Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Banco Santander S.A. raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 9.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 67,120 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 5,771 shares during the quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific accounts for about 0.5% of Banco Santander S.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $41,518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,054,621 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,843,848,000 after buying an additional 156,675 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 32.2% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,481,257 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,372,157,000 after acquiring an additional 604,895 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,740,482 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $962,482,000 after purchasing an additional 20,075 shares during the period. Unisphere Establishment grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 7.1% in the second quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 1,500,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $829,500,000 after acquiring an additional 100,000 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 76,051.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,416,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $876,152,000 after buying an additional 1,414,556 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TMO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stephens started coverage on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $680.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group raised Thermo Fisher Scientific to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Bernstein Bank lifted their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TMO opened at $512.86 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $579.63 and its 200-day moving average is $580.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.63. The firm has a market cap of $196.17 billion, a PE ratio of 32.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.79. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52 week low of $476.45 and a 52 week high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.25 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $168,048.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,333,946.08. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $554.29, for a total value of $5,542,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,175,513.68. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 37,150 shares of company stock valued at $20,651,865. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.