Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on TRI. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Thomson Reuters in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Thomson Reuters from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised shares of Thomson Reuters from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.20.

Thomson Reuters Stock Performance

TRI opened at $169.12 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Thomson Reuters has a 12-month low of $138.83 and a 12-month high of $176.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $166.09 and a 200-day moving average of $166.81. The stock has a market cap of $76.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.29, a PEG ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.71.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The business services provider reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.82 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Thomson Reuters will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. This is a boost from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. Thomson Reuters’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.52%.

Institutional Trading of Thomson Reuters

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC grew its position in Thomson Reuters by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,209,202 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,229,716,000 after acquiring an additional 57,854 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Thomson Reuters by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 4,074,256 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $686,640,000 after buying an additional 26,483 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp grew its holdings in Thomson Reuters by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,684,883 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $458,559,000 after acquiring an additional 27,714 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Thomson Reuters by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,577,905 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $439,665,000 after acquiring an additional 255,387 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Thomson Reuters by 9.4% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,458,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $245,893,000 after acquiring an additional 125,167 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 17.31% of the company’s stock.

About Thomson Reuters

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.