John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Sells 4,339 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. reduced its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 32.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,056 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 4,339 shares during the quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $4,711,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Onefund LLC increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Onefund LLC now owns 1,035 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $538,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA now owns 5,257 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,735,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA grew its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA now owns 24,908 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $12,958,000 after acquiring an additional 2,283 shares during the period. Jacobi Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 4,080 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,123,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on TMO shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $656.86.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

NYSE:TMO opened at $528.99 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $549.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $565.17. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a twelve month low of $493.30 and a twelve month high of $627.88. The stock has a market cap of $199.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.00, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77. 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 (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is 10.41%.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total transaction of $5,302,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares in the company, valued at $58,960,669.92. This trade represents a 8.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,125 shares of company stock worth $11,231,699. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by 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.