Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. Sells 400 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. reduced its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,449 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $3,355,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 16,318,961 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,100,655,000 after purchasing an additional 124,996 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,872,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,453 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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. raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,935,377,000 after purchasing an additional 262,062 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% in the third 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 period. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America lowered 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. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 price target (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $658.00.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 1.0 %

TMO opened at $532.55 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $548.47 and its 200-day moving average is $567.70. The company has a market cap of $203.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.22, a PEG ratio of 2.99 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. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 research 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 firm also recently disclosed 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%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.44%.

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

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total transaction of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 111,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,960,669.92. This trade represents a 8.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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. The trade was 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 worth $11,231,699 in the last quarter. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.