Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) Stock Position Reduced by Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC reduced its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) by 20.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 33,586 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 8,457 shares during the quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $17,472,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 126,603 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $65,863,000 after purchasing an additional 887 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 20,331 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $10,577,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 11,912 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $6,197,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 4,158 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,163,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 182,511 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $94,948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,460 shares during the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TMO traded down $1.96 during trading on Friday, reaching $542.97. The company had a trading volume of 2,919,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,985,240. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $530.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $568.07. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $493.30 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.25 by $0.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. The firm had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.69 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.68 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.29%. Thermo Fisher Scientific's payout ratio is 9.78%.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $1,120,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,736 shares in the company, valued at $7,134,197.76. This represents a 13.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total value of $5,302,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 111,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $58,960,669.92. This represents a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,150 shares of company stock valued at $25,954,465 over the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TMO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $660.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Bernstein Bank increased their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $650.52.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Company 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.