Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) Price Target Raised to $678.00 at Morgan Stanley

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) had its price objective lifted by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $647.00 to $678.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the medical research company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 13.30% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $605.00 price target for the company. Barclays lowered their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $655.64.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE TMO opened at $598.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a 12 month low of $493.30 and a 12 month high of $627.88. The company has a market capitalization of $228.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $541.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $570.96.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific will post 21.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total transaction of $5,302,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 111,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,960,669.92. This trade represents a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 29,000 shares of company stock valued at $15,859,540. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Thermo Fisher Scientific

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TMO. State Street Corp boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,318,961 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,100,655,000 after acquiring an additional 124,996 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,872,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,453 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,659,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,719,477,000 after buying an additional 127,564 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings 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 period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,636,558 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,630,896,000 after acquiring an additional 65,586 shares during the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.