Balboa Wealth Partners Decreases Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Balboa Wealth Partners lessened its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 54.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 401 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 482 shares during the period. Balboa Wealth Partners’ holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of TMO. FMR LLC boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,872,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294,453 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 68,617.0% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 762,759 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $396,810,000 after acquiring an additional 761,649 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter worth approximately $377,901,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $254,412,000. Finally, Lindsell Train Ltd purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at $211,858,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

NYSE TMO opened at $523.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $548.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $559.53. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $493.30 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The company has a market cap of $197.47 billion, a PE ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its 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 net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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 paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is an increase 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%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is presently 10.41%.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific 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 completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $175,677.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TMO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Scotiabank boosted their target price 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. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $653.23.

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.