Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 15,680 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky decreased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,425 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 15,680 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $40,470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 318.2% in the 2nd quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC now owns 46 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC increased its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 116.0% in the 2nd quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 54 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bernstein Bank boosted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Stephens began coverage on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $680.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $680.00 price objective on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

NYSE:TMO traded down $1.49 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $534.36. 1,388,421 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,533,676. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $204.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.77. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $554.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $574.74. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $491.47 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Thermo Fisher Scientific's dividend payout ratio is 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was 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 owns 111,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $58,960,669.92. The trade was a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $168,048.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,333,946.08. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,150 shares of company stock valued at $25,954,465 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.