Russell Investments Group Ltd. Has $142.65 Million Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lessened its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 286,567 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 7,482 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $142,646,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the first quarter worth $35,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the first quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $479.98, for a total value of $191,992.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,367 shares in the company, valued at $10,735,712.66. This represents a 1.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $451.82, for a total value of $4,518,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 115,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,037,916.68. The trade was a 7.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 18,400 shares of company stock valued at $8,345,792. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on TMO. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $570.00 to $565.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $500.00 to $480.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $450.00 to $490.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $665.00 to $620.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $593.00.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $462.59 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.50. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a one year low of $385.46 and a one year high of $627.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $428.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $461.84.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.22 by $0.14. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 16.82% and a net margin of 15.24%. The firm had revenue of $10.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.37 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is presently 9.95%.

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.