Beaton Management Co. Inc. Reduces Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Beaton Management Co. Inc. decreased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,923 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific makes up about 2.2% of Beaton Management Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Beaton Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $4,282,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 24,580 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $14,282,000 after acquiring an additional 909 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 1st quarter valued at $1,661,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 23.0% during the first quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 321 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $187,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, MAS Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the first quarter valued at about $203,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on TMO. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $625.00 to $620.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.33.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $168,048.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at $9,333,946.08. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total transaction of $4,975,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,076,178.88. This trade represents a 38.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 37,150 shares of company stock valued at $20,651,865. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of NYSE:TMO opened at $513.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap of $196.25 billion, a PE ratio of 32.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.79. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $464.17 and a 12-month high of $627.88. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $586.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $582.34.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.25 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.69 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is currently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in 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 typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.