Investment House LLC Cuts Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Investment House LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 22.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,855 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,370 shares during the quarter. Investment House LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $2,526,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.5% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 54,575 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,759,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 22.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,247,838 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $771,876,000 after acquiring an additional 225,568 shares in the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.0% in the third quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA now owns 1,102 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $682,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.1% in the third quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,345 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $832,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviance Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.4% in the third quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 13,322 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $8,240,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $521.42 on Wednesday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $493.30 and a 12-month high of $627.88. The stock has a market cap of $196.71 billion, a PE ratio of 31.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $547.72 and a 200 day moving average of $557.48.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TMO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $653.23.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the 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 $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,984,264.64. This represents a 26.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the 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 $175,677.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.