Liberty Capital Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Liberty Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,626 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Thermo Fisher Scientific accounts for approximately 1.9% of Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $8,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 76,051.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,416,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $876,152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,414,556 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in 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 worth $4,872,761,000 after buying an additional 1,294,453 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter valued at about $254,412,000. Lindsell Train Ltd bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth approximately $211,858,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted 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 worth $2,935,377,000 after purchasing an additional 262,062 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total value of $5,302,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares in the company, valued at $58,960,669.92. The trade was a 8.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,125 shares of company stock valued at $11,231,699. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of TMO opened at $571.44 on Monday. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $493.30 and a twelve month high of $627.88. The company has a market cap of $218.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $547.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $572.26.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has approved 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 buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on TMO. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America lowered their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $658.00.

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.