Rhumbline Advisers Sells 10,559 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Rhumbline Advisers lowered its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 664,612 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 10,559 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $345,751,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TMO. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter worth $27,000. Barrett & Company Inc. bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on TMO shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target 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. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on 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. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 target price (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, 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 $532.58 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $548.45 and a 200-day moving average of $571.01. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $493.30 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.22, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.77.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total value of $5,302,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 111,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,960,669.92. This represents a 8.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $5,753,421.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. This trade represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,125 shares of company stock valued at $11,231,699 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific 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.