Veritas Asset Management LLP Sells 103,317 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Veritas Asset Management LLP lowered its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,027,159 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 103,317 shares during the quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific makes up about 5.0% of Veritas Asset Management LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Veritas Asset Management LLP owned 0.27% of Thermo Fisher Scientific worth $534,359,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $535.55 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $204.85 billion, a PE ratio of 32.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1-year low of $493.30 and a 1-year high of $627.88. The business has a 50-day moving average of $548.58 and a 200-day moving average of $566.86. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on TMO shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $656.86.

Thermo Fisher Scientific 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.