James Investment Research Inc. Reduces Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

James Investment Research Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 53.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,566 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,949 shares during the quarter. James Investment Research Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $1,335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of TMO. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 76,051.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,416,416 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $876,152,000 after acquiring an additional 1,414,556 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 19.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,877,459 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $4,872,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,294,453 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 3rd quarter valued at about $254,412,000. Lindsell Train Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter valued at about $211,858,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $2,935,377,000 after buying an additional 262,062 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock opened at $532.58 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.77. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52 week low of $493.30 and a 52 week high of $627.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $548.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $570.52.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The medical research company reported $6.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.94 by $0.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. Research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Friday, November 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the medical research company to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. This represents a 1.80 % 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 this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $530.26, for a total value of $5,302,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,960,669.92. The trade was a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,125 shares of company stock valued at $11,231,699. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on TMO. StockNews.com raised shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $605.00 to $650.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $667.00 target price (up previously from $650.00) on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $715.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $658.00.

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.