Trustmark National Bank Trust Department Lowers Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Trustmark National Bank Trust Department decreased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 839 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 98 shares during the period. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $519,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lafayette Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.1% during the second quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 830 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $459,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. IFG Advisors LLC now owns 532 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 1,031 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $570,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,123 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,175,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,886 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TMO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Stephens began coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $680.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $515.26 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $480.57 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $197.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $577.66 and a 200-day moving average of $580.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.63.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.69 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $1,120,320.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,736 shares in the company, valued at $7,134,197.76. This represents a 13.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total transaction of $4,975,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,608 shares in the company, valued at $8,076,178.88. This represents a 38.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,150 shares of company stock worth $20,651,865 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.