AIA Group Ltd Raises Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

AIA Group Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 32.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,448 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,568 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $7,669,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,760,738 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $16,582,503,000 after buying an additional 180,618 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,418,429 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,285,838,000 after purchasing an additional 50,736 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 104,536.8% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,355,245 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,601,150,000 after purchasing an additional 8,347,260 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 61,754.7% in the 1st quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,842,175 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,136,000 after purchasing an additional 5,832,730 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter worth $3,105,677,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $597.98, for a total value of $5,979,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 123,816 shares in the company, valued at $74,039,491.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $597.98, for a total transaction of $5,979,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 123,816 shares in the company, valued at $74,039,491.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Debora L. Spar sold 164 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $546.97, for a total value of $89,703.08. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $660,192.79. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 50,277 shares of company stock worth $28,513,384. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. TheStreet raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $575.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays cut Thermo Fisher Scientific from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $475.00 to $555.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. HSBC raised their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $550.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $604.69.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of TMO stock traded down $5.94 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $541.31. The stock had a trading volume of 1,548,272 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,539,883. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a one year low of $415.60 and a one year high of $603.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $571.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $527.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.94, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.80.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The medical research company reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.64 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $10.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.73 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 18.78% and a net margin of 13.99%. The firm’s revenue was down 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.40 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.52 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.10%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific 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.