Aviso Financial Inc. Raises Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Aviso Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 95,109 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 3,236 shares during the period. Thermo Fisher Scientific accounts for approximately 2.5% of Aviso Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Aviso Financial Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $49,479,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised 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 valued at $10,100,655,000 after purchasing an additional 124,996 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in 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 valued at $4,872,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,453 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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 valued at $4,719,477,000 after purchasing an additional 127,564 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,935,377,000 after purchasing an additional 262,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,860,847 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,556,689,000 after purchasing an additional 340,263 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. The trade was a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TMO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $508.62 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $548.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $560.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market cap of $191.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.77, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $493.30 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. As a group, analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the medical research company to repurchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.41%.

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.