Meridian Wealth Partners LLC Has $230,000 Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Meridian Wealth Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 13.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 442 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 71 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 54,575 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $33,759,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,247,838 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $771,876,000 after acquiring an additional 225,568 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 3,417 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,114,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth about $235,000. Finally, Allen Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth about $240,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total value of $5,166,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,900 shares of company stock valued at $13,106,062 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of 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 report on Friday, January 10th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 price target (up from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 0.1 %

TMO opened at $518.04 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $493.30 and a fifty-two week 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 company has a market cap of $195.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $546.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $555.91.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 earnings per share (EPS) 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. 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 0.33%. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.41%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific 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.