Securian Asset Management Inc. Sells 553 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Securian Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,571 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 553 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $10,702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Great Lakes Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 203,668 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $105,954,000 after purchasing an additional 4,404 shares during the period. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth $76,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,948 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,054,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 1,228 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $639,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 94,571 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $49,199,000 after acquiring an additional 5,303 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $653.23.

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Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 2.4 %

NYSE:TMO opened at $514.40 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $194.06 billion, a PE ratio of 31.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The firm's 50 day moving average is $549.14 and its 200 day moving average is $560.79. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

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

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

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 3,775 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $532.52, for a total transaction of $2,010,263.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 10,816 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,759,736.32. This trade represents a 25.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,900 shares of company stock worth $13,106,062. Corporate 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.

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