B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Reduces Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG reduced its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 405,198 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 6,092 shares during the quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific makes up 2.2% of B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG owned 0.11% of Thermo Fisher Scientific worth $210,572,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $33,759,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 22.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,247,838 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $771,876,000 after buying an additional 225,568 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter valued at about $1,274,000. Tradition Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,128 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $697,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY now owns 783 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America decreased their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, 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 on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total value of $5,166,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 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 transaction of $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares in the company, valued at $15,984,264.64. This represents a 26.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

NYSE TMO opened at $499.75 on Monday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $493.30 and a 52-week high of $627.88. The company has a fifty day moving average of $541.60 and a 200-day moving average of $551.84. The company has a market capitalization of $188.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.34%. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.41%.

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.