Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Makes New Investment in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 15,683 shares of the medical research company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,159,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,318,961 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,100,655,000 after buying an additional 124,996 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,872,761,000 after buying an additional 1,294,453 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,659,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,719,477,000 after buying an additional 127,564 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,935,377,000 after buying an additional 262,062 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,860,847 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,556,689,000 after buying an additional 340,263 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America cut their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.23.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. This represents a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $532.52, for a total transaction of $2,010,263.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,759,736.32. This represents a 25.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

NYSE TMO opened at $519.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $493.30 and a 1 year high of $627.88. The company has a market capitalization of $195.91 billion, a PE ratio of 31.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $548.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $558.14.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. As a group, analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.41%.

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.