Baird Financial Group Inc. Sells 955 Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO)

Baird Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 213,787 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 955 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $111,219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Baldwin Investment Management LLC raised its position in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Baldwin Investment Management LLC now owns 8,879 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $4,619,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Banque Transatlantique SA bought a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific during the fourth quarter valued at about $79,041,000. Banque de Luxembourg S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter valued at about $442,000. Bellevue Group AG boosted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 60,962 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,714,000 after acquiring an additional 7,339 shares during the period. Finally, Bearing Point Capital LLC purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter worth approximately $254,000. 89.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of TMO opened at $423.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $476.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $521.16. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 1 year low of $409.85 and a 1 year high of $627.88. The firm has a market cap of $159.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.86.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The medical research company reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.10 by $0.05. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a return on equity of 17.51% and a net margin of 14.78%. The firm had revenue of $10.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.11 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Thermo Fisher Scientific’s payout ratio is currently 10.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TMO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $665.00 to $620.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $610.00 price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Argus lowered their price objective on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $620.00 to $470.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Thermo Fisher Scientific from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $630.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $607.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $516.67, for a total transaction of $5,166,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,506,950.58. This trade represents a 7.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 9,825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.59, for a total transaction of $5,753,421.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 27,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,984,264.64. This trade represents a 26.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,200 shares of company stock valued at $13,235,041 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific 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.