Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Has $90.83 Million Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina reduced its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 174,586 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 15,864 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $90,825,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,249,575 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $17,297,426,000 after acquiring an additional 196,864 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,857,385 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,075,540,000 after acquiring an additional 197,442 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,149,754,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,935,377,000 after purchasing an additional 262,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,860,847 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,556,689,000 after acquiring an additional 340,263 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on TMO shares. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $653.23.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $175,677.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,582,009.17. This represents a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total value of $5,166,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,506,950.58. This trade 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 quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 7.9 %

NYSE:TMO opened at $452.24 on Thursday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a one year low of $409.85 and a one year high of $627.88. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $516.75 and a 200-day moving average of $541.75. The company has a market cap of $170.61 billion, a PE ratio of 27.36, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86.

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, 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 Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is an increase 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 0.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.41%.

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.