Heritage Trust Co Buys Shares of 1,176 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Heritage Trust Co purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,176 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $612,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barrett & Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TMO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $475.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $647.43.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

NYSE:TMO opened at $437.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $165.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $510.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $539.34. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12 month low of $409.85 and a 12 month high of $627.88. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. On average, analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. 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. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.41%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. This represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $2,010,263.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,816 shares in the company, valued at $5,759,736.32. The trade was a 25.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.