Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) Increases Dividend to $0.47 Per Share

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.47 per share by the medical research company on Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is a 9.3% increase from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 8 consecutive years. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a dividend payout ratio of 7.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Thermo Fisher Scientific to earn $25.56 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.7%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of TMO stock traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $513.65. The stock had a trading volume of 500,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,549,590. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $576.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $547.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $192.98 billion, a PE ratio of 28.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.93. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a twelve month low of $385.46 and a twelve month high of $643.99.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The medical research company reported $6.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.45 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $12.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.95 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 16.92% and a net margin of 15.05%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.10 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Michel Lagarde sold 22,046 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $563.56, for a total value of $12,424,243.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 84,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,404,976.52. The trade was a 20.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $541.20, for a total transaction of $216,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 20,752 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,230,982.40. This represents a 1.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 98,271 shares of company stock valued at $56,920,935. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Thermo Fisher Scientific

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 58,006.4% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 31,509,332 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $18,258,082,000 after purchasing an additional 31,455,105 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,264,615,000. Soundwatch Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 2nd quarter valued at about $807,713,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE grew its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 93.0% during the second quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 2,727,021 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,105,698,000 after purchasing an additional 1,314,182 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2,183.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,328,845 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $770,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270,643 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

About Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: TMO) is a global provider of scientific instrumentation, reagents and consumables, software, and services that support research, clinical, and industrial laboratories. The company supplies analytical instruments and laboratory equipment, life sciences reagents and kits, specialty diagnostics, and a broad range of consumables used by researchers, clinicians, and manufacturers. Its offerings also include laboratory information management and data-analysis software, as well as service solutions such as instrument maintenance, validation, and logistics that help customers run complex workflows efficiently.

Thermo Fisher operates through multiple business areas that broadly cover life sciences solutions, analytical instruments, specialty diagnostics, and laboratory products and biopharma services, including contract development and manufacturing for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.