Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC Sells 479 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC lowered its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,946 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 479 shares during the quarter. Thermo Fisher Scientific accounts for approximately 1.2% of Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $8,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lafayette Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.1% during the second quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 830 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $459,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.3% during the third quarter. IFG Advisors LLC now owns 532 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.8% during the second quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 1,031 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $570,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Drive Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.9% during the second quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,123 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,175,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.0% in the second quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,886 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,043,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target 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. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $610.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $656.00 to $686.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. 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 report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $680.00 target price for the company. Four investment 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.33.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $514.05 on Tuesday. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $480.57 and a 12-month high of $627.88. The stock has a market cap of $196.62 billion, a PE ratio of 32.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a 50-day moving average of $573.70 and a 200 day moving average of $579.75.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.25 by $0.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.48% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The company had revenue of $10.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.69 EPS. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

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

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total transaction of $168,048.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,333,946.08. This represents a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael A. Boxer sold 2,000 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 $1,120,320.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,134,197.76. The trade was a 13.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 90 days. 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.