Oakworth Capital Inc. Grows Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Oakworth Capital Inc. boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,767 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $1,469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,760,738 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $16,582,503,000 after buying an additional 180,618 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.4% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,418,429 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,285,838,000 after buying an additional 50,736 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 104,536.8% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,355,245 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,601,150,000 after purchasing an additional 8,347,260 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 61,754.7% during the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,842,175 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,136,000 after purchasing an additional 5,832,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth $3,105,677,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $597.98, for a total value of $5,979,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 123,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,039,491.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 14,566 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.00, for a total value of $8,186,092.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,901 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,250,362. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $597.98, for a total transaction of $5,979,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $74,039,491.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 50,277 shares of company stock worth $28,513,384. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

TMO stock traded down $6.78 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $547.77. 878,883 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,529,955. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $571.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $526.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $209.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52 week low of $415.60 and a 52 week high of $603.82.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The medical research company reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.64 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $10.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.73 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 18.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.28%. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $515.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. TheStreet raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, March 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $620.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $550.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $475.00 to $555.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $604.69.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Company 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.