AQR Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 221,202 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 9,797 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Thermo Fisher Scientific worth $115,076,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in TMO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,249,575 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $17,297,426,000 after buying an additional 196,864 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,430,120 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $4,905,812,000 after purchasing an additional 104,343 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,857,385 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $4,075,540,000 after buying an additional 197,442 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,149,754,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,853,133 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,935,377,000 after purchasing an additional 262,062 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.23% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total value of $5,166,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at $59,506,950.58. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total value of $175,677.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,363 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,582,009.17. This trade represents a 1.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,200 shares of company stock valued at $13,235,041. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:TMO traded down $1.77 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $421.79. The company had a trading volume of 914,533 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,766,247. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $476.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $520.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 12-month low of $409.85 and a 12-month high of $627.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.10 by $0.05. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 17.51%. The firm had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.11 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. This is a boost from Thermo Fisher Scientific's previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific's payout ratio is currently 10.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on TMO shares. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $605.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $630.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com cut Thermo Fisher Scientific from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $650.00 to $570.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $715.00 to $500.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Thermo Fisher Scientific has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $607.43.

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.