City Holding Co. Decreases Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

City Holding Co. cut its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 20.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,315 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 1,120 shares during the period. City Holding Co.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $2,669,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TMO. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at $382,000. MGO One Seven LLC increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 3,193 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $1,695,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. Vista Investment Management lifted its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Vista Investment Management now owns 5,001 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $2,654,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Oribel Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,555,000. Finally, Ethic Inc. grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 32,545 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $17,274,000 after purchasing an additional 2,671 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $615.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $670.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group upgraded Thermo Fisher Scientific to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $648.00 to $658.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Four investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $653.72.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Price Performance

Shares of NYSE TMO opened at $595.14 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $609.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $582.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $227.34 billion, a PE ratio of 38.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.77. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $415.60 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The medical research company reported $5.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.13 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $10.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.50 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 18.22%. The company’s revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.15 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.26%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $617.21, for a total transaction of $6,172,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $76,420,473.36. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $617.21, for a total transaction of $6,172,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 123,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,420,473.36. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $600.85, for a total value of $180,255.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,747,403.95. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,084 shares of company stock valued at $14,094,292 over the last quarter. 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.