BTC Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

BTC Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,855 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 284 shares during the quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $6,681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,318,961 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,100,655,000 after buying an additional 124,996 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,872,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294,453 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,659,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,719,477,000 after purchasing an additional 127,564 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,935,377,000 after purchasing an additional 262,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,636,558 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,630,896,000 after purchasing an additional 65,586 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on TMO shares. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on 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 raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $648.95.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $558.12, for a total value of $5,581,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 33,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,757,296.96. The trade was a 22.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,000 shares of company stock valued at $15,859,540. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

TMO stock opened at $607.06 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $232.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.06, a PEG ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.76. 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 quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $539.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $570.59.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.