Royal Fund Management LLC Has $2.51 Million Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Royal Fund Management LLC lowered its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 46.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,830 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 4,210 shares during the period. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $2,513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.4% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 3,142 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,738,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 28,900 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $15,982,000 after buying an additional 1,685 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 80.5% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 2,226 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,231,000 after acquiring an additional 993 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 12.8% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 59,607 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $32,963,000 after purchasing an additional 6,783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the second quarter worth $66,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TMO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bernstein Bank upped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $680.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $648.95.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of TMO opened at $559.72 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $529.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $568.56. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12 month low of $493.30 and a 12 month high of $627.88.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. The company’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.69 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.68 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the medical research company to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $554.29, for a total value of $5,542,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,175,513.68. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $1,120,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,736 shares in the company, valued at $7,134,197.76. This represents a 13.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,150 shares of company stock valued at $25,954,465 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.