Central Bank & Trust Co. Sells 53 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Central Bank & Trust Co. reduced its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,933 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 53 shares during the quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $1,006,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 76,051.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,416,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $876,152,000 after acquiring an additional 1,414,556 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,872,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,453 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 32.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,481,257 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,372,157,000 after purchasing an additional 604,895 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth about $254,412,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 743.6% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 336,537 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $186,105,000 after buying an additional 296,646 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $554.29, for a total transaction of $5,542,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,175,513.68. This represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $168,048.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 47,150 shares of company stock valued at $25,954,465 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TMO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens started coverage on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $680.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Bernstein Bank upped their price target 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, Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $680.00 price objective for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $648.95.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

TMO stock opened at $559.72 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $214.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.76. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $493.30 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $529.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $568.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.63.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. The business had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.69 earnings per share. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.28%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is presently 9.78%.

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.