Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Increases Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,337 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $6,269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TMO. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 640 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $340,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 816 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,484 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $794,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,166,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,532 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,003,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $613.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.72. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $599.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $581.47. The company has a market cap of $234.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.36, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.78. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a one year low of $415.60 and a one year high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $5.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.13 by $0.24. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 18.22%. The firm had revenue of $10.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.15 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.72 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on TMO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $670.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $632.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $650.00 price objective (up from $600.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $647.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $617.21, for a total transaction of $6,172,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,420,473.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $617.21, for a total value of $6,172,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 123,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,420,473.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Joseph R. Holmes sold 860 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $611.03, for a total transaction of $525,485.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,814 shares in the company, valued at $1,108,408.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,084 shares of company stock valued at $14,094,292 over the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.