Ninety One North America Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Ninety One North America Inc. reduced its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,557 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 335 shares during the quarter. Ninety One North America Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $1,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. IFG Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.3% in the third quarter. IFG Advisors LLC now owns 532 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,531,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.6% in the third quarter. Axiom Advisory LLC now owns 1,216 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $720,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.5% in the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,921 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,425,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bangor Savings Bank boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $174,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total value of $4,975,740.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,076,178.88. The trade was a 38.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 29,000 shares of company stock worth $15,859,540. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on TMO shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup upped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $680.00 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $658.00.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $586.84 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $541.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $571.18. The stock has a market cap of $224.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.77. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $493.30 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.29 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan 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 plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.27%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.44%.

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.