Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Lowers Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co decreased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,660 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,185 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $7,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cypress Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter worth about $253,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 55,452 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $28,868,000 after acquiring an additional 10,606 shares during the last quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC increased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 10,626 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,528,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 82,934 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $43,145,000 after purchasing an additional 5,118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 182,511 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $94,948,000 after buying an additional 3,460 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $429.93, for a total value of $128,979.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 23,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,960,188.31. This trade represents a 1.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. The trade was a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,200 shares of company stock valued at $13,235,041 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 2.1 %

TMO opened at $419.88 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $478.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $522.86. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12 month low of $409.85 and a 12 month high of $627.88. 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 firm has a market cap of $158.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.40, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.10 by $0.05. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The business had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.23 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.11 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.43 dividend. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TMO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $580.00 to $570.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group cut their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $715.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $603.00 to $573.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $605.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $607.43.

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.