Aureus Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Aureus Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 0.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 57,927 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 477 shares during the period. Thermo Fisher Scientific makes up about 2.3% of Aureus Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Aureus Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $35,832,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 318.2% during the second quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC now owns 46 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter worth about $27,000. New Millennium Group LLC purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 116.0% in the 2nd quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 54 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TMO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Stephens initiated coverage on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $680.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised Thermo Fisher Scientific to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $529.63 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $487.06 and a 1 year high of $627.88. The company has a market capitalization of $202.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $566.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $577.69.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.69 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has approved a share repurchase 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 purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $168,048.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at $9,333,946.08. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $554.29, for a total value of $5,542,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 121,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,175,513.68. The trade was a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 37,150 shares of company stock worth $20,651,865. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.