Greenleaf Trust Reduces Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Greenleaf Trust reduced its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,291 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 115 shares during the quarter. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $6,394,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TMO. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter worth $27,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total transaction of $4,975,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,608 shares in the company, valued at $8,076,178.88. This represents a 38.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,000 shares of company stock valued at $15,859,540. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:TMO opened at $598.40 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $493.30 and a 12-month high of $627.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $541.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $571.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.76.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the medical research company to purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TMO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bernstein Bank raised their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $680.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $655.64.

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.