Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.39

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 7th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of 0.39 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, January 15th. 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 has increased its dividend by an average of 16.7% annually over the last three years. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a dividend payout ratio of 6.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Thermo Fisher Scientific to earn $23.40 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.7%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of TMO opened at $535.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $204.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.60, a PEG ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.77. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a 12 month low of $491.33 and a 12 month high of $627.88. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $556.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $575.08. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.63 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.69 EPS. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific will post 21.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $1,120,320.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,134,197.76. This represents a 13.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total value of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 47,150 shares of company stock valued at $25,954,465. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on TMO. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut 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 report on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Company Profile

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.