Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 726,412 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $377,901,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.19% of Thermo Fisher Scientific as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,872,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294,453 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 68,617.0% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 762,759 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $396,810,000 after purchasing an additional 761,649 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter worth $254,412,000. Lindsell Train Ltd bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at $211,858,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,810,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,461,913,000 after buying an additional 366,191 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

NYSE:TMO opened at $527.43 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $548.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $563.21. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1-year low of $493.30 and a 1-year high of $627.88. The stock has a market cap of $198.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.91, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to repurchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is 10.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $175,677.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. This represents a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total transaction of $5,166,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,506,950.58. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,125 shares of company stock valued at $11,095,799 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on TMO. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 price objective (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $653.23.

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.