WestEnd Advisors LLC Sells 7,520 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

WestEnd Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 10.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 62,590 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 7,520 shares during the period. WestEnd Advisors LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $32,561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,408 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,935,000 after buying an additional 1,720 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 4,082 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,124,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,297 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,559,000 after purchasing an additional 1,694 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,899 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $6,711,000 after purchasing an additional 1,857 shares during the period. Finally, Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,839 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $957,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $5,753,421.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. This trade represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 111,192 shares in the company, valued at $58,960,669.92. This trade represents a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,125 shares of company stock worth $11,231,699 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

NYSE:TMO opened at $571.44 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $493.30 and a 1 year high of $627.88. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $547.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $572.12. The company has a market capitalization of $218.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TMO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. 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 report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bernstein Bank boosted their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four 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.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $658.00.

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.