Permanent Capital Management LP Purchases Shares of 726 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Permanent Capital Management LP bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 726 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $378,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of TMO. State Street Corp boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,318,961 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,100,655,000 after buying an additional 124,996 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,872,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,453 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,659,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,719,477,000 after purchasing an additional 127,564 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,935,377,000 after purchasing an additional 262,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,810,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,461,913,000 after purchasing an additional 366,191 shares during the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TMO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 price objective (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 0.8 %

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $531.74 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52 week low of $493.30 and a 52 week high of $627.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $200.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $549.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $562.68.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) 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 expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is currently 10.41%.

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

Insider Activity

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the business’s 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 $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,296 shares in the company, valued at $15,984,264.64. The trade was a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total transaction of $5,166,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,506,950.58. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,125 shares of company stock worth $11,095,799. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.