Romano Brothers AND Company Trims Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Romano Brothers AND Company lowered its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 887 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 71 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of TMO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,760,738 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $16,582,503,000 after purchasing an additional 180,618 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,418,429 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $6,285,838,000 after acquiring an additional 50,736 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 104,536.8% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,355,245 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,601,150,000 after purchasing an additional 8,347,260 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 61,754.7% in the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,842,175 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $10,136,000 after buying an additional 5,832,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,105,677,000. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on TMO shares. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $620.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $575.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays lowered shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $475.00 to $555.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $592.00 to $642.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $601.56.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of TMO stock opened at $565.23 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The business has a 50 day moving average of $571.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $526.14. The company has a market cap of $215.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.58, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.80. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52 week low of $415.60 and a 52 week high of $603.82.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The medical research company reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.64 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $10.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.73 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 18.78%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s revenue was down 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is a positive change 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 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is presently 10.10%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Debora L. Spar sold 164 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $546.97, for a total value of $89,703.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,192.79. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,039,491.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Debora L. Spar sold 164 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $546.97, for a total value of $89,703.08. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 1,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $660,192.79. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 50,277 shares of company stock worth $28,513,384. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

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.