Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Reduces Stock Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund decreased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 59,865 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,600 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $31,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,409,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 54,575 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,759,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 693 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $429,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 2,798 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,731,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $536,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TMO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup lifted 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. Finally, 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $656.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total value of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 111,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,960,669.92. The trade was a 8.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,125 shares of company stock valued at $11,231,699 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of TMO stock opened at $532.55 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1-year low of $493.30 and a 1-year high of $627.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $548.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $567.46. 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 company has a market cap of $203.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. 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. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is 10.41%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.