Lathrop Investment Management Corp Cuts Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Lathrop Investment Management Corp reduced its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,747 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 437 shares during the quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific accounts for 3.5% of Lathrop Investment Management Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Lathrop Investment Management Corp’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $19,019,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of TMO. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 318.2% in the 2nd quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC now owns 46 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. New Millennium Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Stephens Consulting LLC increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 116.0% during the second quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 54 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays reduced their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $625.00 to $620.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:TMO opened at $515.26 on Friday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52 week low of $480.57 and a 52 week high of $627.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $577.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $580.52. The firm has a market cap of $197.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.63.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.25 by $0.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.49% and a net margin of 14.48%. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical research company to purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $552.86, for a total value of $4,975,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,076,178.88. This trade represents a 38.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $168,048.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,663 shares in the company, valued at $9,333,946.08. This trade represents a 1.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 37,150 shares of company stock worth $20,651,865. Company insiders own 0.34% 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.