GC Wealth Management RIA LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

GC Wealth Management RIA LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,064 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 826 shares during the quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $2,634,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,659,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,719,477,000 after buying an additional 127,564 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 11.4% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,705 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,972,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the period. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 9.8% in the third quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 20,579 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $12,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,837 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 55,452 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $28,868,000 after purchasing an additional 10,606 shares during the period. Finally, S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 10,626 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,528,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 price target (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:TMO opened at $526.32 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66. 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 moving average is $549.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $561.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $198.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.41%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total value of $5,166,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at $59,506,950.58. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,984,264.64. This represents a 26.47 % 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 $11,095,799 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.