Yousif Capital Management LLC Decreases Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Yousif Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,001 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,057 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $22,370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of TMO stock opened at $580.63 on Wednesday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $542.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $571.55. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $493.30 and a 12-month high of $627.88. The firm has a market cap of $222.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.77.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.27%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.44%.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total transaction of $4,975,740.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,076,178.88. The trade was a 38.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on TMO. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank raised their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 price target (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $658.00.

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.