MONECO Advisors LLC Sells 4,200 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

MONECO Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 81.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 959 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 4,200 shares during the quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $499,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Barrett & Company Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TMO has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four equities 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.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $656.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,960,669.92. This trade represents a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 approximately $15,984,264.64. This trade represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,125 shares of company stock worth $11,231,699. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $535.55 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $548.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $566.86. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $493.30 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $204.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.41%.

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

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.