Mather Group LLC. Lowers Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Mather Group LLC. lowered its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 12.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,425 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 345 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $1,262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,318,961 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,100,655,000 after acquiring an additional 124,996 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,872,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,453 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,659,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,719,477,000 after buying an additional 127,564 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,935,377,000 after buying an additional 262,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,636,558 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,630,896,000 after acquiring an additional 65,586 shares during the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,960,669.92. The trade was a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $580.63 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The business’s 50 day moving average is $542.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $571.55. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $493.30 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The firm has a market cap of $222.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.13, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.77.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted 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 return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. Research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.29 EPS for the current year.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.27%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $658.00.

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.