Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Boosts Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,257 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 30 shares during the quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $2,735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Barrett & Company Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total transaction of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,960,669.92. This trade represents a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 20,125 shares of company stock valued at $11,231,699 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on TMO shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $656.86.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

NYSE TMO opened at $528.99 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 firm has a market capitalization of $199.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $549.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $565.44. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $493.30 and a 1 year high of $627.88.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical research company to purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.41%.

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.