MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB Decreases Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB reduced its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,931 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 3,514 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $24,935,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 2nd quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth about $50,000. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TMO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays dropped 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 boosted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stephens started coverage on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $680.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $648.95.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,175,513.68. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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 that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were 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 owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,333,946.08. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,150 shares of company stock worth $25,954,465 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $559.72 on Monday. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $529.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $568.33. The company has a market capitalization of $214.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.76. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $493.30 and a 12-month high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.69 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is currently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase 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 repurchase 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.

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.