Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) Board of Directors Initiates Stock Buyback Plan

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Friday, November 15th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on TMO shares. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $680.00 price target on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $625.00 to $620.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of TMO stock opened at $513.08 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $196.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50 day moving average is $586.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $582.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a 12-month low of $464.17 and a 12-month high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.69 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific will post 21.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.30%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.78%.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $1,120,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,134,197.76. The trade was a 13.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $168,048.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,333,946.08. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,150 shares of company stock valued at $20,651,865 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Company 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.