Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Cuts Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P cut its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,298,012 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 24,151 shares during the period. Thermo Fisher Scientific makes up about 1.1% of Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned 0.34% of Thermo Fisher Scientific worth $802,911,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of TMO. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,636,558 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,630,896,000 after acquiring an additional 65,586 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 32.2% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,481,257 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,372,157,000 after acquiring an additional 604,895 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,443,937 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,511,746,000 after purchasing an additional 61,017 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,740,482 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $962,482,000 after purchasing an additional 20,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unisphere Establishment boosted its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 7.1% during the second quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 1,500,000 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $829,500,000 after buying an additional 100,000 shares during the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on TMO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $670.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $680.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America upped their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $600.00 to $675.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on shares of 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $513.26 on Monday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $480.57 and a 1 year high of $627.88. The company has a market capitalization of $196.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The business has a 50-day moving average of $575.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $580.20.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.63 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The company’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.69 EPS. On average, analysts forecast 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the medical research company to buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $1,120,320.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,134,197.76. This trade represents a 13.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $554.29, for a total transaction of $5,542,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 121,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,175,513.68. This trade represents a 7.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,150 shares of company stock valued at $20,651,865 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.