Kensington Investment Counsel LLC Sells 27 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Kensington Investment Counsel LLC decreased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,447 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 27 shares during the quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $753,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Leelyn Smith LLC grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 7,208 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,750,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 449 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $234,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 75,683 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $39,373,000 after buying an additional 3,553 shares during the period. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at about $341,000. Finally, Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 89.2% during the fourth quarter. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TMO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $653.23.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,506,950.58. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $519.30 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $548.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $558.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.42, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

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

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.