Renasant Bank Purchases 61 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Renasant Bank grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,659 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the quarter. Renasant Bank’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $863,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.5% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 54,575 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,759,000 after buying an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,247,838 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $771,876,000 after acquiring an additional 225,568 shares during the period. D Orazio & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $200,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 7.4% during the third quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 7,547 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,664,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortis Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.3% in the third quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC now owns 1,599 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $989,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.52, for a total value of $2,010,263.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,759,736.32. The trade was a 25.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were 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 $9,582,009.17. This represents a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on TMO shares. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 target price (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America dropped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $508.62 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $548.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $560.10. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a one year low of $493.30 and a one year high of $627.88. The stock has a market cap of $191.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical research company to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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 paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.41%.

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.