Advisors Asset Management Inc. Sells 1,091 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,612 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,091 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $10,723,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TMO. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,659,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,719,477,000 after buying an additional 127,564 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,705 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,972,000 after acquiring an additional 995 shares during the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 20,579 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $12,730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,837 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 55,452 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $28,868,000 after buying an additional 10,606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC raised its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 10,626 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,528,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on TMO shares. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 price target (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $653.23.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total transaction of $5,166,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,506,950.58. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

TMO opened at $519.30 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $548.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $558.14. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $493.30 and a 12-month high of $627.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.42, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.41%.

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.