Compass Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Compass Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,184 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $616,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Missouri Trust & Investment Co acquired a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Thermo Fisher Scientific news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 5,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $557.89, for a total transaction of $3,263,656.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,611,804.88. This represents a 4.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold 44,850 shares of company stock valued at $24,666,097 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on TMO. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on 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. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $632.00 to $622.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bernstein Bank raised their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $565.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America dropped their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $630.00 to $620.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $648.95.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

NYSE:TMO opened at $575.21 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $220.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1-year low of $493.30 and a 1-year high of $627.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $533.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $569.32.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $10.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $5.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 21.69 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, November 15th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding 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 generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.27%. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.78%.

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.