Analysts Set Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) Target Price at $653.23

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eighteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $653.23.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on TMO. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 0.1 %

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $518.04 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $195.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $546.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $555.91. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a 1-year low of $493.30 and a 1-year high of $627.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is presently 10.41%.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total value of $5,166,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,506,950.58. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $175,677.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,249,575 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $17,297,426,000 after purchasing an additional 196,864 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,318,961 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,100,655,000 after buying an additional 124,996 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,430,120 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,905,812,000 after buying an additional 104,343 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,872,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294,453 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,857,385 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,075,540,000 after purchasing an additional 197,442 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.