Hickory Point Bank & Trust Buys New Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Hickory Point Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 722 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $376,000.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $175,677.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. This represents a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total value of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 111,192 shares in the company, 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 have sold 20,125 shares of company stock worth $11,231,699 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TMO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $656.86.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 1.1 %

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $528.99 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12 month low of $493.30 and a 12 month high of $627.88. The firm has a market cap of $199.57 billion, a PE ratio of 32.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $549.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $565.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. 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 of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This is a positive change 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is 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.