Perpetual Ltd Acquires 47,976 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Perpetual Ltd grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 20.9% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 277,938 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,976 shares during the quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific makes up about 1.7% of Perpetual Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $138,302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 89.2% in the 4th quarter. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TMO has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $715.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $475.00 to $450.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $603.00 to $573.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $665.00 to $620.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $610.00 target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $604.05.

Insider Activity

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $429.93, for a total transaction of $128,979.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,960,188.31. The trade was a 1.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of TMO stock opened at $412.02 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $385.46 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.17, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $410.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $484.47.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.10 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.23 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 15.19% and a return on equity of 17.15%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.11 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.09%.

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.