Horan Capital Advisors LLC. Lowers Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Horan Capital Advisors LLC. trimmed its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,260 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 808 shares during the quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific makes up 1.1% of Horan Capital Advisors LLC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Horan Capital Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $3,257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,659,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,719,477,000 after acquiring an additional 127,564 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,705 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,972,000 after acquiring an additional 995 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 20,579 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $12,730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,837 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 55,452 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $28,868,000 after acquiring an additional 10,606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 10,626 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,528,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $523.00 on Tuesday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a one year low of $493.30 and a one year high of $627.88. The company has a market cap of $197.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.64, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $549.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $564.35.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is presently 10.41%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on TMO. Bank of America reduced their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup upped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. 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, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $656.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $5,753,421.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. This represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.