Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) Shares Sold by Captrust Financial Advisors

Captrust Financial Advisors cut its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 0.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 67,446 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 270 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $41,720,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 245.9% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 56,914 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,079,000 after buying an additional 40,460 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 62.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 16,453 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,563,000 after purchasing an additional 6,327 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC grew its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 28,845 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $16,765,000 after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 54.9% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,233 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $717,000 after buying an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,377 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $784,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on TMO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $680.00 price objective on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $625.00 to $620.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:TMO opened at $529.63 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $202.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.21, a PEG ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 0.79. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $487.06 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $566.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $577.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.25 by $0.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. The business had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.69 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $1,120,320.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,736 shares in the company, valued at $7,134,197.76. The trade was a 13.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $168,048.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,333,946.08. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,150 shares of company stock worth $20,651,865 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.