Van ECK Associates Corp Boosts Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 19.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 418,365 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 68,927 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $217,646,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFG Advisors LLC boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.3% in the third quarter. IFG Advisors LLC now owns 532 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $3,531,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.5% during the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,921 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,425,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 334 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $174,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 7,463 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $3,882,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $538.31 on Thursday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $493.30 and a 12-month high of $627.88. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $548.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $571.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.77.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released 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 return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. Research analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bernstein Bank boosted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price 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. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $658.00.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $5,753,421.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. This trade represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,582,009.17. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,125 shares of company stock valued at $11,231,699 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.