Forte Capital LLC ADV Reduces Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Forte Capital LLC ADV reduced its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,500 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 364 shares during the period. Forte Capital LLC ADV’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $1,821,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. ING Groep NV grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 84.7% during the 4th quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 158,853 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $82,640,000 after purchasing an additional 72,865 shares during the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 1,335,285 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $694,655,000 after purchasing an additional 7,140 shares during the last quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 31,652 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $16,466,000 after purchasing an additional 751 shares during the last quarter. Citizens National Bank Trust Department lifted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Citizens National Bank Trust Department now owns 4,695 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,442,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Mcdaniel Terry & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Mcdaniel Terry & Co. now owns 30,240 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $15,732,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus reduced 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective 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, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $658.00.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $538.03 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $205.80 billion, a PE ratio of 32.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.77. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12 month low of $493.30 and a 12 month 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $548.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $568.15.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.32%. This is an increase from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is presently 9.44%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase 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 purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were 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 $15,984,264.64. The trade was a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,125 shares of company stock worth $11,231,699. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.