Meridian Wealth Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 36.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,175 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 680 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,659,943 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,719,477,000 after acquiring an additional 127,564 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 11.4% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,705 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $5,972,000 after acquiring an additional 995 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 9.8% in the third quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 20,579 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $12,730,000 after acquiring an additional 1,837 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 55,452 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $28,868,000 after acquiring an additional 10,606 shares in the last quarter. Finally, S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC now owns 10,626 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $5,528,000 after buying an additional 618 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $5,753,421.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. This represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $175,677.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. The trade was a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

Shares of TMO stock opened at $516.57 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $549.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $563.73. The company has a market cap of $194.88 billion, a PE ratio of 31.25, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $493.30 and a 12-month high of $627.88.

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

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Friday, November 15th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical research company to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on TMO shares. Bank of America dropped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $660.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on 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. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $693.00 price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $653.23.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Company Profile

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.