Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $8.89 Million Stock Position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Key Points

• Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. by 13.4%, selling 2,760 shares, leaving them with 17,859 shares valued at approximately $8.89 million.
• Investment firms such as GAMMA Investing LLC and T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. significantly increased their stakes, indicating strong institutional interest with nearly 89.23% of the stock held by institutional investors.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific is set to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.43 on October 15th, with a current annualized yield of 0.4% and a low payout ratio of 9.95%.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) by 13.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,859 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 2,760 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $8,887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,479,957 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $16,659,627,000 after acquiring an additional 230,382 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in 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 valued at $4,905,812,000 after purchasing an additional 104,343 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,910,015 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,034,107,000 after purchasing an additional 455,004 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 86.9% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,083,900 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,604,338,000 after purchasing an additional 1,433,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 4.1% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,925,591 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $1,455,774,000 after purchasing an additional 115,463 shares in the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on TMO. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $610.00 price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $570.00 to $565.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. HSBC reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $510.00 price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $450.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $651.00 to $637.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $593.00.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Performance

NYSE:TMO traded up $6.60 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $461.34. 1,689,914 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,227,669. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.74. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a twelve month low of $385.46 and a twelve month high of $627.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $426.80 and a 200 day moving average of $464.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.22 by $0.14. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 16.82%. The firm had revenue of $10.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.37 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Thermo Fisher Scientific's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Gianluca Pettiti sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $479.98, for a total transaction of $191,992.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 22,367 shares in the company, valued at $10,735,712.66. This trade represents a 1.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $451.82, for a total transaction of $4,518,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 115,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at $52,037,916.68. This trade represents a 7.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 18,400 shares of company stock valued at $8,345,792. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.