AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Decreases Stock Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd decreased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 91.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,581 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 127,147 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $6,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TMO. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Barrett & Company Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $175,677.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. This represents a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the company’s 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 owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. This represents a 26.47 % decrease in their position. 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 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $532.58 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $548.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $570.52. 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 cap of $203.71 billion, a PE ratio of 32.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.77. 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 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 net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. Equities analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on TMO shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays dropped their price objective 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. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Bernstein Bank upped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $658.00.

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.