Teacher Retirement System of Texas Decreases Stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas trimmed its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO - Free Report) by 26.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 172,754 shares of the medical research company's stock after selling 63,386 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $85,962,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 worth $17,297,426,000 after purchasing an additional 196,864 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake 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 grew its stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,857,385 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $4,075,540,000 after buying an additional 197,442 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,149,754,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,910,015 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $2,034,107,000 after buying an additional 455,004 shares during the last quarter. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on TMO shares. Argus reduced their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $470.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Scotiabank dropped 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 research report on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $585.00 to $500.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $651.00 to $637.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $580.00 to $570.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $604.05.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 0.1%

TMO traded up $0.49 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $428.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,359,321 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,971,505. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.53, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.77. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $385.46 and a 1 year high of $627.88. The stock's 50-day moving average is $409.06 and its 200-day moving average is $481.30.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.10 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $10.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.23 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 15.19% and a return on equity of 17.15%. The business's quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.11 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Thermo Fisher Scientific's payout ratio is currently 10.09%.

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 Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $429.93, for a total transaction of $128,979.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 23,167 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,960,188.31. The trade was a 1.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.