Argent Capital Management LLC Sells 2,049 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Argent Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 36,662 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,049 shares during the period. Argent Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $19,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TMO. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,659,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,719,477,000 after buying an additional 127,564 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,705 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,972,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 9.8% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 23.6% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 82,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $43,145,000 after buying an additional 5,118 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $554.29, for a total value of $5,542,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,175,513.68. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $168,048.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 47,150 shares of company stock worth $25,954,465. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bernstein Bank lifted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $648.95.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 1.0 %

TMO stock opened at $551.64 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.76. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a twelve month low of $493.30 and a twelve month high of $627.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $529.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $568.13.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical research company to repurchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.28%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.78%.

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.