California Public Employees Retirement System Has $417.85 Million Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 803,203 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 40,045 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.21% of Thermo Fisher Scientific worth $417,850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in TMO. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Barrett & Company Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the firm’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 $175,677.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $532.52, for a total transaction of $2,010,263.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,816 shares in the company, valued at $5,759,736.32. This trade represents a 25.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on TMO. Scotiabank raised 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 2.3 %

TMO stock opened at $499.75 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $493.30 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $541.60 and a 200-day moving average of $552.30. The company has a market capitalization of $188.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.23, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share 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, equities research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is presently 10.41%.

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.