Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 13,573 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. $TMO

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 16.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 68,559 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 13,573 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $33,253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,789,164 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,700,154,000 after buying an additional 309,207 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,264,615,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 11.3% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,897,546 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,985,759,000 after acquiring an additional 498,238 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 54.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,571,857 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,732,422,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,967 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,000,562 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,216,612,000 after purchasing an additional 74,971 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TMO. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $615.00 price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $633.68.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE TMO opened at $582.07 on Tuesday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12 month low of $385.46 and a 12 month high of $643.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $593.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $539.86. The stock has a market cap of $218.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.93.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The medical research company reported $6.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.45 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $12.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.95 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 15.05% and a return on equity of 16.92%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $6.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th were given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.70%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, November 6th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to buy up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Michael D. Shafer sold 10,725 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.00, for a total transaction of $6,435,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 18,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,238,600. This trade represents a 36.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Michel Lagarde sold 32,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $583.39, for a total transaction of $18,668,480.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 65,480 shares in the company, valued at $38,200,377.20. This represents a 32.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 124,517 shares of company stock valued at $72,363,568. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

About Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: TMO) is a global provider of scientific instrumentation, reagents and consumables, software, and services that support research, clinical, and industrial laboratories. The company supplies analytical instruments and laboratory equipment, life sciences reagents and kits, specialty diagnostics, and a broad range of consumables used by researchers, clinicians, and manufacturers. Its offerings also include laboratory information management and data-analysis software, as well as service solutions such as instrument maintenance, validation, and logistics that help customers run complex workflows efficiently.

Thermo Fisher operates through multiple business areas that broadly cover life sciences solutions, analytical instruments, specialty diagnostics, and laboratory products and biopharma services, including contract development and manufacturing for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.