Handelsbanken Fonder AB Buys 19,311 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 5.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 393,531 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,311 shares during the quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific makes up 0.8% of Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $195,821,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in TMO. Cypress Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at $253,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 34.0% in the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,600 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,353,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,121,000. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. now owns 2,870 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,493,000 after acquiring an additional 576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 418,365 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $217,646,000 after acquiring an additional 68,927 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on TMO. Barclays lowered their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $475.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $580.00 to $570.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target 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. Argus dropped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $470.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $605.30.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $429.93, for a total value of $128,979.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,960,188.31. This trade represents a 1.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $408.57 on Tuesday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a twelve month low of $390.50 and a twelve month high of $627.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $419.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $494.94. The firm has a market cap of $154.23 billion, a PE ratio of 24.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.78.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.10 by $0.05. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The business had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.11 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued 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%.

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.