Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Acquires 88 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 20,629 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $10,732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TMO. Baxter Bros Inc. boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. now owns 28,462 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $14,807,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Bay Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter worth $346,000. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 110,251 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $57,356,000 after buying an additional 7,986 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 12,862 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,691,000 after buying an additional 1,407 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FineMark National Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 22,685 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,801,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of the company’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,759,736.32. This represents a 25.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total transaction of $5,166,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,506,950.58. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TMO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 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. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $520.25 on Tuesday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $493.30 and a 1 year high of $627.88. The company has a market capitalization of $196.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $545.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $554.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. Research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. 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%.

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.