Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 101,103 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lessened its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,493,320 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 101,103 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $776,870,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of TMO. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $93,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 36,267 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $18,867,000 after buying an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 18,764 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,762,000 after buying an additional 1,088 shares during the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 1,480 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $771,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RWA Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,903 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,591,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $175,677.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at $9,582,009.17. This represents a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total value of $5,166,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TMO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note 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. StockNews.com raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 price objective (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of TMO stock opened at $499.75 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $188.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.23, a P/E/G 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $541.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $551.84.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 paid a $0.43 dividend. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is currently 10.41%.

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.