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

Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $182.09.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $187.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $168.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $165.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Thomson Reuters

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TRI. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Thomson Reuters by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 7,146 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,219,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Thomson Reuters by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,739 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Thomson Reuters by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 74,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,755,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Thomson Reuters by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,068 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $523,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Thomson Reuters in the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. 17.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Thomson Reuters Stock Up 1.5 %

Thomson Reuters stock opened at $177.66 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.02. Thomson Reuters has a 52-week low of $149.50 and a 52-week high of $180.42. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $168.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $167.63. The firm has a market cap of $79.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.33, a PEG ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.70.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The business services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.04. Thomson Reuters had a net margin of 30.45% and a return on equity of 14.62%. Equities analysts predict that Thomson Reuters will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.595 per share. This represents a $2.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. This is a boost from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. Thomson Reuters’s payout ratio is presently 48.67%.

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.