Avestar Capital LLC Grows Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Avestar Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,198 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the quarter. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $1,979,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC raised its holdings in 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 valued at $4,872,761,000 after buying an additional 1,294,453 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,636,558 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,630,896,000 after acquiring an additional 65,586 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 32.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,481,257 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,372,157,000 after acquiring an additional 604,895 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,443,937 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,511,746,000 after purchasing an additional 61,017 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,740,482 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $962,482,000 after purchasing an additional 20,075 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $625.00 to $620.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $680.00 price target for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total value of $4,975,740.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,076,178.88. This trade represents a 38.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $168,048.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,333,946.08. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,150 shares of company stock valued at $20,651,865 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of TMO opened at $514.05 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $480.57 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $573.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $579.75. The company has a market capitalization of $196.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.79.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.25 by $0.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.69 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.