AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Reduces Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc lessened its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 49,465 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 7,919 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $25,728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of TMO. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth approximately $218,000. Grimes & Company Inc. grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 502.1% during the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 14,390 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,486,000 after acquiring an additional 12,000 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,746 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,469,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,299 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,277,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 335,053 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $174,305,000 after buying an additional 34,917 shares during the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 5,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.89, for a total value of $3,263,656.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,192 shares in the company, valued at $67,611,804.88. The trade was a 4.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 44,850 shares of company stock valued at $24,666,097. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on TMO shares. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Bernstein Bank lifted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $648.95.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 0.1 %

TMO stock opened at $575.21 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $533.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $569.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market capitalization of $220.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.76. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52 week low of $493.30 and a 52 week high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.25 by $0.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. The firm had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is currently 9.78%.

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.