Capital Research Global Investors Cuts Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Capital Research Global Investors lowered its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,920,726 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 266,957 shares during the quarter. Capital Research Global Investors’ holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $4,120,588,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stonegate Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,531,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 471 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC grew its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 7,463 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,882,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KRS Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC now owns 1,317 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $685,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on TMO. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $580.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. 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 research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $642.67.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 115,174 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of TMO stock opened at $426.11 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1-year low of $409.85 and a 1-year high of $627.88. The company has a market cap of $160.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.78, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $497.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $533.64.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.