North Star Asset Management Inc. Increases Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

North Star Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,625 shares of the medical research company’s stock after buying an additional 1,581 shares during the period. Thermo Fisher Scientific makes up approximately 1.3% of North Star Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $28,938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cypress Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter worth approximately $253,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 34.0% in the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,600 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,353,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,121,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 335,053 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $174,305,000 after purchasing an additional 34,917 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 3,825 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,990,000 after purchasing an additional 663 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Down 1.7%

Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $393.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $148.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.81, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.82. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $390.50 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $442.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $505.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.11 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’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 directly owns 23,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,960,188.31. The trade was a 1.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total transaction of $5,166,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,506,950.58. The trade was a 7.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,075 shares of company stock worth $7,305,942. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TMO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $605.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $647.00 to $678.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $475.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $610.00 target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.