Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $176.10.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Thomson Reuters from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. CIBC boosted their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $164.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Thomson Reuters from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Thomson Reuters from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Thomson Reuters in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $165.00 price target for the company.

Thomson Reuters Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE TRI opened at $164.70 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $162.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $165.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Thomson Reuters has a 1 year low of $148.16 and a 1 year high of $176.03. The firm has a market cap of $74.12 billion, a PE ratio of 32.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.13 and a beta of 0.72.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The business services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Thomson Reuters had a net margin of 32.12% and a return on equity of 14.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Thomson Reuters will post 3.69 EPS for the current year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Thomson Reuters’s payout ratio is 42.52%.

Institutional Trading of Thomson Reuters

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Aigen Investment Management LP increased its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 87.4% during the third quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 7,326 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,250,000 after buying an additional 3,417 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Thomson Reuters during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,506,000. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Thomson Reuters by 547.4% in the 3rd quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,943 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,355,000 after purchasing an additional 6,716 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in Thomson Reuters by 87.1% in the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 505,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $85,136,000 after purchasing an additional 235,145 shares during the period. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,127,000. Institutional investors own 17.31% of the company’s stock.

Thomson Reuters Company Profile

Thomson Reuters Corporation engages in the provision of business information services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in five segments: Legal Professionals, Corporates, Tax & Accounting Professionals, Reuters News, and Global Print. The Legal Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on legal research and integrated legal workflow solutions that combine content, tools, and analytics to law firms and governments.