Atria Investments Inc Sells 5,610 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Atria Investments Inc lowered its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,628 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 5,610 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $22,697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 37,900 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $19,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,979 shares during the period. Smithfield Trust Co lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 6,291 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,274,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2,088.2% during the 4th quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,797 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $9,779,000 after acquiring an additional 17,938 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,810,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,461,913,000 after acquiring an additional 366,191 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unified Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $400,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was 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 owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,296 shares in the company, valued at $15,984,264.64. This trade represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TMO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $516.57 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $194.88 billion, a PE ratio of 31.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a twelve month low of $493.30 and a twelve month high of $627.88. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $549.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $563.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 EPS 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, equities research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 Increases Dividend

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