Pictet North America Advisors SA Increases Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Pictet North America Advisors SA boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,812 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the quarter. Pictet North America Advisors SA’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $4,584,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TMO. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Barrett & Company Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. The trade was a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total value of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,960,669.92. The trade was a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,125 shares of company stock valued at $11,231,699 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

TMO opened at $532.63 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.73 billion, a PE ratio of 32.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s 50-day moving average is $548.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $571.28. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $493.30 and a 1 year high of $627.88. 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 (NYSE:TMO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. Research analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TMO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Bernstein Bank increased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Four equities 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $658.00.

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.