Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Increases Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 6.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 18,822 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,158 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $9,368,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $429.93, for a total value of $128,979.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 23,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TMO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $715.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $610.00 price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $651.00 to $637.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $665.00 to $620.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $605.30.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:TMO opened at $414.85 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $156.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.78. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $390.50 and a 1 year high of $627.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $417.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $493.15.

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 firm had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.23 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.11 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.