Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Sells 807 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. reduced its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 2.7% in 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 29,458 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 807 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $15,325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,659,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,719,477,000 after buying an additional 127,564 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 11.4% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,705 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,972,000 after buying an additional 995 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 9.8% in the third quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 20,579 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $12,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,837 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 55,452 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $28,868,000 after purchasing an additional 10,606 shares during the period. Finally, S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 10,626 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,528,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TMO. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 price target (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment 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 has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $656.86.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the firm’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 $175,677.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,125 shares of company stock worth $11,231,699 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 1.2 %

TMO opened at $533.00 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1-year low of $493.30 and a 1-year high of $627.88. The company has a market capitalization of $201.08 billion, a PE ratio of 32.24, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $549.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $566.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly 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 analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.32%. This is an increase from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.41%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Company 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.