Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. Buys 48,531 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. raised its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 218.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 70,717 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 48,531 shares during the period. Thermo Fisher Scientific makes up about 1.9% of Coronation Fund Managers Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $35,189,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $479.98, for a total transaction of $191,992.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 22,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,735,712.66. The trade was a 1.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $454.45, for a total transaction of $3,635,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 115,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,340,824.30. The trade was a 6.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 18,400 shares of company stock valued at $8,345,792. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $461.34 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a twelve month low of $385.46 and a twelve month high of $627.88. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $426.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $463.40. The company has a market capitalization of $174.21 billion, a PE ratio of 26.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.22 by $0.14. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 16.82%. The firm had revenue of $10.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is presently 9.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on TMO. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $553.00 to $567.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $450.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. HSBC restated a “hold” rating and issued a $510.00 target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $590.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $593.00.

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.