Share Repurchase Program Approved by Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) Board

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Friday, November 15th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the medical research company to repurchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

TMO stock opened at $513.08 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $586.43 and a 200 day moving average of $582.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $196.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.79. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a 1 year low of $464.17 and a 1 year high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. The firm’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.69 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific will post 21.69 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is 9.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TMO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stephens started coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $680.00 price objective for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Bernstein Bank increased their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.33.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $168,048.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,333,946.08. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total transaction of $4,975,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,076,178.88. This trade represents a 38.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 37,150 shares of company stock valued at $20,651,865. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.