Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Purchases 887 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 126,603 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 887 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $65,863,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at about $50,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the second quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at about $65,000. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on TMO shares. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $605.00 target price for the company. Stephens started coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $680.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.52.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $168,048.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,333,946.08. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total transaction of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,960,669.92. This trade represents a 8.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 47,150 shares of company stock valued at $25,954,465. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of TMO opened at $542.97 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $207.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $529.91 and a 200 day moving average of $567.91. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a twelve month low of $493.30 and a twelve month high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.78%.

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

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.