Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) Shares Sold by Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY lessened its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 16,811 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 732 shares during the quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $8,771,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TMO. Bornite Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 50.0% in the first quarter. Bornite Capital Management LP now owns 30,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $17,719,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.2% in the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 2,928 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,729,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 563.5% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 60.5% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 321 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $190,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.6% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 669 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. 87.06% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $469.07 on Monday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $415.60 and a 52-week high of $609.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.56, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $479.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $514.14.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 25th. The medical research company reported $5.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.61 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $10.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.60 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 18.88% and a net margin of 13.68%. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 15th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is currently 9.17%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, November 14th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to buy up to 2.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on TMO. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $664.00 to $625.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $630.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $530.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 26th. KeyCorp cut shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $657.00 to $579.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $593.94.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.77, for a total value of $1,673,310.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,792,210.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $454.41, for a total value of $4,544,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 131,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,607,231.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 3,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.77, for a total transaction of $1,673,310.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 17,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,792,210.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 23,000 shares of company stock valued at $10,778,910. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc provides life sciences solutions, analytical instruments, specialty diagnostics, and laboratory products and biopharma services in the United States 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, clinical next-generation sequencing, bio production to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agricultural, clinical, healthcare, academic, and government markets.