Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY Has $355,000 Stock Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY lessened its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 12.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 683 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $355,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Barrett & Company Inc. bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Missouri Trust & Investment Co acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TMO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised 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 report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $656.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total transaction of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,960,669.92. This represents a 8.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. The trade was a 26.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,125 shares of company stock valued at $11,231,699. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of TMO opened at $528.99 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $199.57 billion, a PE ratio of 32.00, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $549.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $565.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12 month low of $493.30 and a 12 month high of $627.88.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. On average, analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. 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 yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.41%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.