Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC Lowers Position in 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 fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 17,681 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 530 shares during the period. Thermo Fisher Scientific comprises about 0.8% of Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. 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 (SEC).

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TMO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price target 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 lifted their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised 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 note on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $653.23.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.52, for a total value of $2,010,263.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,816 shares in the company, valued at $5,759,736.32. The trade was a 25.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $175,677.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. This represents a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $508.62 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $493.30 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88. The stock has a market cap of $191.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.77, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $548.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $560.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66.

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, 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 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 dividend yield of 0.34%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.41%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.