Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,391 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 327 shares during the quarter. Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $9,568,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Barrett & Company Inc. purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. 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, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the firm’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 $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,984,264.64. This trade represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,506,950.58. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

NYSE TMO opened at $523.44 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $197.47 billion, a PE ratio of 31.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $548.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $558.79. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1-year low of $493.30 and a 1-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.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TMO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target 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. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $653.23.

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.