Fred Alger Management LLC Invests $1.27 Million in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Fred Alger Management LLC bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,059 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,274,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TMO. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 2nd quarter worth about $117,000. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 30.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,174 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,845,000 after purchasing an additional 745 shares in the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the second quarter valued at $122,000. Finally, Value Partners Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 15.0% during the second quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 4,751 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,627,000 after buying an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total value of $4,975,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,076,178.88. This represents a 38.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 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 $1,120,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,134,197.76. This represents a 13.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,150 shares of company stock valued at $20,651,865 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $529.63 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $566.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $577.69. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12 month low of $487.06 and a 12 month 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 market cap of $202.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.21, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.25 by $0.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.63 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.69 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on TMO shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bernstein Bank raised their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $625.00 to $620.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.33.

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.