Fifth Third Bancorp Boosts Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 335,053 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,917 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $174,305,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. IFG Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.3% during the third quarter. IFG Advisors LLC now owns 532 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $329,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,720,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 1,216 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $720,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.5% in the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,921 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,425,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 334 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $174,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $647.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bernstein Bank upped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $648.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $558.12, for a total transaction of $5,581,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 33,608 shares in the company, valued at $18,757,296.96. This represents a 22.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 44,850 shares of company stock worth $24,666,097. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 0.1 %

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $575.21 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $220.02 billion, a PE ratio of 36.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.76. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $532.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $569.05. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52 week low of $493.30 and a 52 week high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.69 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.78%.

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

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.