Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) Price Target Raised to $650.00

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) had its price target hoisted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $600.00 to $650.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the medical research company’s stock.

TMO has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set a neutral rating and a $620.00 price objective for the company. Barclays downgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and upped their price objective for the company from $475.00 to $555.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $592.00 to $642.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $621.00 to $620.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a market perform rating on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $606.76.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

NYSE:TMO opened at $573.60 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $218.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company’s 50-day moving average is $573.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $530.14. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a 12-month low of $415.60 and a 12-month high of $603.82.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The medical research company reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.70 by $0.41. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.20% and a return on equity of 18.45%. The company had revenue of $10.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.14 billion. Research analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific will post 21.56 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $597.98, for a total transaction of $5,979,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,039,491.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $597.98, for a total transaction of $5,979,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,039,491.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 14,566 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.00, for a total value of $8,186,092.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,901 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,250,362. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,277 shares of company stock worth $28,513,384 in the last 90 days. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Thermo Fisher Scientific

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TMO. Norges Bank bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth $2,909,524,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 61,995.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,009,671 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $535,923,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008,045 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 17,046.7% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 973,591 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $492,803,000 after purchasing an additional 967,913 shares during the last quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP lifted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 70.1% during the fourth quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP now owns 1,692,148 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $898,175,000 after purchasing an additional 697,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Winslow Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth $333,786,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.