Park Avenue Securities LLC Trims Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 16,873 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,293 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $8,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at $27,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter worth approximately $50,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 2nd quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at about $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 1.0 %

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $551.64 on Thursday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12 month low of $493.30 and a 12 month high of $627.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.00 billion, a PE ratio of 34.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $529.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $568.13.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.69 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.78%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on TMO. Bernstein Bank boosted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $647.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $648.95.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $168,048.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at $9,333,946.08. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $554.29, for a total transaction of $5,542,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,175,513.68. This represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 47,150 shares of company stock worth $25,954,465. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.