Catalina Capital Group LLC Reduces Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Catalina Capital Group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 881 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 163 shares during the quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $458,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have 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 worth about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on TMO. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bernstein Bank lifted their price objective 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $655.64.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $598.40 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $541.37 and a 200-day moving average of $571.07. The firm has a market cap of $228.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.20, a P/E/G ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1-year low of $493.30 and a 1-year high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. Sell-side analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.29 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.44%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total value of $4,975,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,076,178.88. This represents a 38.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold 29,000 shares of company stock worth $15,859,540 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.