Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC Decreases Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC reduced its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,568 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 318 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $2,897,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TMO. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 76,051.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,416,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $876,152,000 after acquiring an additional 1,414,556 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,872,761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,294,453 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter worth approximately $254,412,000. Lindsell Train Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter worth $211,858,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,935,377,000 after acquiring an additional 262,062 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on TMO shares. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $658.00.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 1.3 %

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $538.31 on Thursday. 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 capitalization of $205.90 billion, a PE ratio of 32.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $548.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $571.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 EPS for the quarter, topping 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, equities research analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the medical research company to purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 111,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,960,669.92. The trade was a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,582,009.17. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,125 shares of company stock valued at $11,231,699 in the last quarter. 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.