Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 24,687 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. $TMO

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 1.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,667,747 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 24,687 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.44% of Thermo Fisher Scientific worth $808,643,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 126.9% in the third quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 59 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 825.0% in the 2nd quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 74 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 35.1% during the third quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 77 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $750.00 price target for the company in a research report on Sunday, December 7th. HSBC upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $615.00 price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $683.00 target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $633.68.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $541.20, for a total transaction of $216,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 20,752 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,230,982.40. This represents a 1.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Michel Lagarde sold 22,046 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $563.56, for a total transaction of $12,424,243.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 84,117 shares in the company, valued at $47,404,976.52. This represents a 20.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

TMO stock opened at $507.82 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 1.89. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $571.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $548.67. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a one year low of $385.46 and a one year high of $643.99. The company has a market capitalization of $188.64 billion, a PE ratio of 28.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.96.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.45 by $0.12. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 15.05% and a return on equity of 16.92%. The company had revenue of $12.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.10 EPS. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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 Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.70%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, November 6th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to purchase up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.