LWM Advisory Services LLC Lowers Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

LWM Advisory Services LLC cut its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 29.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 742 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 312 shares during the quarter. LWM Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $387,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,659,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,719,477,000 after purchasing an additional 127,564 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 11.4% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,705 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,972,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 9.8% in the third quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 20,579 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $12,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,837 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 55,452 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $28,868,000 after purchasing an additional 10,606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 10,626 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,528,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $532.55 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $203.70 billion, a PE ratio of 32.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $493.30 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $548.47 and a 200-day moving average of $567.46.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is a positive change 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 yield of 0.32%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.41%.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total transaction of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 111,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,960,669.92. This trade represents a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $5,753,421.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,984,264.64. This represents a 26.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,125 shares of company stock valued at $11,231,699. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TMO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $656.86.

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.