Legal & General Group Plc Sells 717,637 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) by 24.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,262,540 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 717,637 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.59% of Thermo Fisher Scientific worth $1,177,041,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in TMO. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Barrett & Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at $59,506,950.58. This represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $532.52, for a total value of $2,010,263.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 10,816 shares in the company, valued at $5,759,736.32. This trade represents a 25.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

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Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock traded up $10.47 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $437.91. 2,656,544 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,696,843. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $510.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $539.34. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a one year low of $409.85 and a one year high of $627.88. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $165.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The business 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 boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Thermo Fisher Scientific's dividend payout ratio is presently 10.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. 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 research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $647.43.

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.