Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Sells 8,457 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC trimmed its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 20.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 33,586 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 8,457 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $17,472,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the second quarter worth $50,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on TMO shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America decreased their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Bernstein Bank boosted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $650.52.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of TMO traded up $0.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $545.87. 1,282,457 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,703,036. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.63. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1-year low of $493.30 and a 1-year high of $627.88. The stock has a market cap of $208.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50 day moving average of $530.21 and a 200-day moving average of $568.07.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $168,048.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total value of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,960,669.92. This represents a 8.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,150 shares of company stock worth $25,954,465. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Company 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.