Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 1,002 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund reduced its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,310 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,002 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $6,996,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,199 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. Cedar Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 134 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 830 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.3% during the third quarter. IFG Advisors LLC now owns 532 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Finally, Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.8% in the second quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 1,031 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $570,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TMO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total value of $4,975,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,076,178.88. This represents a 38.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $168,048.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at $9,333,946.08. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,150 shares of company stock valued at $20,651,865 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 3.7 %

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $513.08 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $464.17 and a 12-month high of $627.88. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $586.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $582.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.25 billion, a PE ratio of 32.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 0.79.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $5.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.30%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.