Pitcairn Co. Cuts Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Pitcairn Co. lowered its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 27.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,609 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 4,399 shares during the quarter. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $6,039,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of TMO. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.5% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 54,575 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $33,759,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,247,838 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $771,876,000 after buying an additional 225,568 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 182,450 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $112,796,000 after buying an additional 6,709 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.1% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 5,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,512,000 after acquiring an additional 912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ingalls & Snyder LLC lifted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 12.3% in the third quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 1,347 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $833,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $532.52, for a total value of $2,010,263.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 10,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,759,736.32. The trade was a 25.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,174 shares in the company, 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 quarter. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TMO. UBS Group upped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $489.25 on Thursday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $475.27 and a 12-month high of $627.88. The company has a market cap of $184.57 billion, a PE ratio of 29.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $536.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $549.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. 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.