FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co Sells 138 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co lessened its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,534 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 138 shares during the quarter. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter worth $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter worth $27,000. Barrett & Company Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 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 $175,677.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $5,753,421.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares in the company, valued at $15,984,264.64. The trade was a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,125 shares of company stock valued at $11,231,699 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TMO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $656.86.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 1.2 %

TMO opened at $533.00 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1-year low of $493.30 and a 1-year high of $627.88. The company’s 50 day moving average is $549.14 and its 200-day moving average is $566.23. The company has a market cap of $201.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.24, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan 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 plans are generally a sign that the company’s board 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. This is an increase from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.41%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Company 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.