Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Acquires 443 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,816 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 443 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $17,212,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Altman Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter worth about $1,726,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter valued at about $270,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,703 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179 shares in the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 10.6% in the third quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 2,180 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,349,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Finally, Commerce Bank increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.7% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 229,601 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $142,024,000 after acquiring an additional 1,534 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Bernstein Bank increased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.33.

Insider Activity

In related 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 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $1,120,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,134,197.76. This represents a 13.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,150 shares of company stock valued at $20,651,865 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of TMO stock opened at $512.86 on Thursday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12 month low of $476.45 and a 12 month high of $627.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $196.17 billion, a PE ratio of 32.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $579.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $580.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. 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 (DPR) is presently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan 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 repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication 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.