V Square Quantitative Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,618 shares of the medical research company’s stock after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $1,362,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Barrett & Company Inc. bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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. This represents a 8.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,125 shares of company stock worth $11,231,699 over the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $667.00 target price (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays reduced their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $658.00.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:TMO opened at $532.63 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $493.30 and a 1 year high of $627.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $548.21 and its 200 day moving average is $571.28. The company has a market cap of $203.73 billion, a PE ratio of 32.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.77.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

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