Moody's: Credit negative for Thermo Fisher

Moody's Investors Service said that Thermo Fisher Scientific's initiation of a dividend program is credit negative.

In February, the company announced that its board of directors authorized a quarterly dividend of 13 cents per share, or about $200 million in total annual distributions.

The new dividend demonstrates increasingly shareholder-friendly policies at a time of elevated financial leverage, following two significant debt-funded acquisitions in 2011, Moody's said.

There is no change to Thermo Fisher's A3 rating or stable outlook, the agency said.

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