Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) Shares Sold by Qtron Investments LLC

Qtron Investments LLC cut its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,513 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 158 shares during the period. Qtron Investments LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $2,348,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,249,575 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $17,297,426,000 after purchasing an additional 196,864 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at $3,149,754,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 262,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,860,847 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,556,689,000 after purchasing an additional 340,263 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total value of $5,166,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,506,950.58. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $5,753,421.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. This represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on TMO. Citigroup cut 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 report on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, UBS Group boosted 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $647.43.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE TMO opened at $437.91 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $165.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $510.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $539.34. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $409.85 and a 12 month high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released 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 net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. As a group, research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This is an increase from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.41%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific 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.