Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC Sells 530 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,681 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 530 shares during the quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific accounts for 0.8% of Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $9,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Renasant Bank raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Renasant Bank now owns 1,659 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $863,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Aviso Financial Inc. now owns 95,109 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $49,479,000 after buying an additional 3,236 shares during the last quarter. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth about $342,000. LBP AM SA grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 160,694 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $83,598,000 after acquiring an additional 28,585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,410,957 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $734,022,000 after acquiring an additional 283,087 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

NYSE:TMO opened at $508.62 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $548.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $560.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.88 billion, a PE ratio of 30.77, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has initiated a stock 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 repurchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is 10.41%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,296 shares in the company, valued at $15,984,264.64. The trade was a 26.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific 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 directly owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at $59,506,950.58. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group boosted their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given 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 $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.