First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Grows Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 41.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,036 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 1,187 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $2,142,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in TMO. Summit Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 2,814 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,495,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 9,696 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,147,000 after acquiring an additional 1,467 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 391 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $207,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Iyo Bank Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Iyo Bank Ltd. now owns 9,069 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,814,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ICW Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 912 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $484,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $590.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $592.00 to $642.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $575.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $550.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $607.35.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE:TMO traded down $8.00 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $566.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 142,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,531,943. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.43 billion, a PE ratio of 36.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $575.03 and a 200-day moving average of $531.97. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $415.60 and a 1 year high of $603.82.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The medical research company reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.70 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $10.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 18.45% and a net margin of 14.20%. Equities research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.28%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $572.41, for a total value of $5,724,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 123,816 shares in the company, valued at $70,873,516.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $572.41, for a total value of $5,724,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $70,873,516.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $567.94, for a total value of $1,135,880.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,430,359.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,277 shares of company stock valued at $35,373,364 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.