Paragon Advisors LLC Sells 41 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Paragon Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,731 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 41 shares during the period. Paragon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $2,982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the second quarter worth $50,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the third quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter worth $65,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on TMO shares. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $680.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $680.00 to $665.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $767.00 to $718.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $680.00 price target for the company. Finally, 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. Five equities 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $650.52.

Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific

In other news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $560.16, for a total value of $168,048.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,333,946.08. The trade was a 1.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 111,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,960,669.92. This represents a 8.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,150 shares of company stock valued at $25,954,465 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $542.97 on Monday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $207.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.04, a PEG ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $529.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $568.06. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the company earned $5.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.68 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is currently 9.78%.

Thermo Fisher Scientific declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program 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 programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.