Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC Lowers Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,252 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 107 shares during the quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $2,212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TMO. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter worth $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Barrett & Company Inc. purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total transaction of $5,166,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,506,950.58. The trade was a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,125 shares of company stock valued at $11,095,799. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on TMO. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley increased 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 increased their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

NYSE TMO opened at $531.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $200.60 billion, a PE ratio of 32.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12 month low of $493.30 and a 12 month high of $627.88. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $549.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $562.32.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted 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 net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.