B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Cuts Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG trimmed its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 405,198 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 6,092 shares during the quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific accounts for 2.2% of B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $210,572,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rodgers Brothers Inc. grew its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc. now owns 2,119 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,102,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Seven Mile Advisory boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 696 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter worth about $93,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. lifted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 36,267 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $18,867,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the period. Finally, AIA Group Ltd grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 18,764 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $9,762,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on TMO. UBS Group upped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $653.23.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. This trade represents a 26.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $175,677.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $499.75 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $188.53 billion, a PE ratio of 30.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1-year low of $493.30 and a 1-year high of $627.88. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $541.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $551.84.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued 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 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.43 dividend. This is a positive change from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.41%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Profile

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.