Independent Advisor Alliance Sells 2,587 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Independent Advisor Alliance lowered its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 20.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,936 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,587 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $5,169,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of TMO. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter worth $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Barrett & Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $514.40 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $549.14 and its 200 day moving average is $560.79. The company has a market capitalization of $194.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.12, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a twelve month low of $493.30 and a twelve month high of $627.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program 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 purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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 issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.52, for a total transaction of $2,010,263.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,759,736.32. The trade was a 25.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total transaction of $5,166,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at $59,506,950.58. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on TMO. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America dropped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. 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 on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $653.23.

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.