Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 613 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 43 shares during the period. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $319,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 54,575 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,759,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,247,838 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $771,876,000 after acquiring an additional 225,568 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,236 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $10,043,000 after buying an additional 1,245 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 66.9% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 646,692 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $400,024,000 after acquiring an additional 259,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zacks Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 45,733 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $28,289,000 after purchasing an additional 5,236 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,984,264.64. This trade represents a 26.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,506,950.58. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 6.9 %

Shares of NYSE:TMO opened at $437.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $165.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $437.22 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $532.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $547.47.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 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, equities research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TMO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank upped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $653.23.

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.