Renaissance Technologies LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 270.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 181,344 shares of the medical research company’s stock after acquiring an additional 132,393 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $94,341,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 54,575 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,759,000 after buying an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 22.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,247,838 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $771,876,000 after buying an additional 225,568 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 70.9% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 434 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 113,347 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $70,113,000 after acquiring an additional 4,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vestcor Inc grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 10.1% in the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 11,031 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,823,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total transaction of $5,166,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,506,950.58. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $175,677.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 4.6 %

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $417.57 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $157.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.26, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $522.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $543.48. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $411.21 and a 1 year high of $627.88.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. This is an increase from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on TMO. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 target price (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $653.23.

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.