Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC Lowers Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 11.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,170 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,386 shares during the period. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $5,811,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in 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 valued at $4,872,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294,453 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at approximately $254,412,000. Lindsell Train Ltd bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth approximately $211,858,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,935,377,000 after acquiring an additional 262,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 66.9% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 646,692 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $400,024,000 after purchasing an additional 259,123 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total transaction of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,960,669.92. This trade represents a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. This trade represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,125 shares of company stock valued at $11,231,699. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on TMO. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $656.86.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $532.55 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $548.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $567.32. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $493.30 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The firm has a market cap of $203.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is 10.41%.

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.