WP Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

WP Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,132 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 232 shares during the period. WP Advisors LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,493,852 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $7,842,762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,059 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,054,621 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,843,848,000 after buying an additional 156,675 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,113,137 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,715,436,000 after buying an additional 123,523 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 32.2% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,481,257 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,372,157,000 after buying an additional 604,895 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,740,482 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $962,482,000 after acquiring an additional 20,075 shares during the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $1,120,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,134,197.76. This trade represents a 13.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $554.29, for a total value of $5,542,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,175,513.68. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,150 shares of company stock valued at $20,651,865 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 3.7 %

NYSE TMO opened at $513.08 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $586.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $582.39. The stock has a market cap of $196.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.17, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.79. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a twelve month low of $464.17 and a twelve month high of $627.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.63.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.69 earnings per share. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on TMO shares. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $680.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $625.00 to $620.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.33.

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.