Meridian Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,855 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,147,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 76,051.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,416,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $876,152,000 after buying an additional 1,414,556 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the first quarter valued at $705,636,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 32.2% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,481,257 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,372,157,000 after purchasing an additional 604,895 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth $254,412,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 743.6% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 336,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $186,105,000 after buying an additional 296,646 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the business’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 $168,048.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,736 shares in the company, valued at $7,134,197.76. The trade was a 13.57 % 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 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on TMO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $625.00 to $620.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bernstein Bank boosted their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:TMO opened at $513.26 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a one year low of $480.57 and a one year high of $627.88. The company has a market cap of $196.32 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $575.70 and a 200-day moving average of $580.15.

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

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is 9.78%.

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.