Howard Financial Services LTD. Purchases 432 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Howard Financial Services LTD. increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 129.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 766 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $399,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter valued at about $50,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE TMO opened at $559.72 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $214.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.09, a PEG ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.76. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1-year low of $493.30 and a 1-year high of $627.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average of $529.80 and a 200-day moving average of $567.97.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.69 EPS. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on TMO shares. Bernstein Bank increased their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $648.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $168,048.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,333,946.08. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $554.29, for a total transaction 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,150 shares of company stock worth $25,954,465 over the last three months. Corporate 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.