Northcape Capital Pty Ltd Sells 1,594 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Northcape Capital Pty Ltd decreased its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 30.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,693 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,594 shares during the quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific accounts for 0.2% of Northcape Capital Pty Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Northcape Capital Pty Ltd’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $1,960,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of TMO. Bornite Capital Management LP grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Bornite Capital Management LP now owns 30,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $17,719,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.2% during the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 2,928 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,729,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 563.5% in the first quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 19,844 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $11,721,000 after buying an additional 16,853 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 60.5% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 321 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $190,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.6% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 669 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 23 shares during the period. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $515.00 to $605.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $592.00 to $642.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, December 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $610.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $670.00 price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Thursday, December 14th. Finally, Barclays cut Thermo Fisher Scientific from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $475.00 to $555.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $599.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $597.98, for a total value of $5,979,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,816 shares in the company, valued at $74,039,491.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 14,566 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $562.00, for a total value of $8,186,092.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,901 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,250,362. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $597.98, for a total transaction of $5,979,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 123,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $74,039,491.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,277 shares of company stock valued at $28,513,384 over the last quarter. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 0.2 %

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock traded up $1.19 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $580.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 289,790 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,605,131. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $415.60 and a 52-week high of $603.82. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $564.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $519.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.50, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.80.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The medical research company reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.64 by $0.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 18.78%. The firm had revenue of $10.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.52 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.27%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is 10.10%.

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.