AQR Capital Management LLC Buys 15,009 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 18.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 98,152 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,009 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $54,278,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Armistice Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 275.0% during the second quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 56,158 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $31,055,000 after buying an additional 41,182 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 698,577 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $386,313,000 after purchasing an additional 93,088 shares in the last quarter. Unisphere Establishment boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 7.1% during the second quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 1,500,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $829,500,000 after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 295.6% during the second quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 5,874 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,248,000 after purchasing an additional 4,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 247.9% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 56,451 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,217,000 after buying an additional 40,226 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on TMO shares. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $650.00 price target (up from $600.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America upped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $615.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $767.00 target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $647.78.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

TMO stock opened at $614.42 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $415.60 and a 1 year high of $627.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $234.71 billion, a PE ratio of 39.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s 50-day moving average is $606.08 and its 200-day moving average is $582.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $5.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.13 by $0.24. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 18.22% and a net margin of 14.69%. The firm had revenue of $10.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $617.21, for a total transaction of $6,172,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 123,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,420,473.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $617.21, for a total transaction of $6,172,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,420,473.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 6,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $602.09, for a total transaction of $3,793,167.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 123,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,548,375.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,084 shares of company stock worth $14,094,292 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.