StockNews.com Upgrades Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) to “Hold”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Thursday.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on TRI. Scotiabank upped their target price on Thomson Reuters from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. National Bank Financial raised Thomson Reuters from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Thomson Reuters from $163.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Thomson Reuters from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $176.33.

Thomson Reuters Stock Down 1.8 %

NYSE:TRI traded down $3.01 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $161.73. 145,630 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 353,583. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. Thomson Reuters has a twelve month low of $133.26 and a twelve month high of $176.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $168.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $167.13. The firm has a market cap of $72.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.01, a P/E/G ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 0.73.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The business services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 14.85% and a net margin of 32.12%. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Thomson Reuters will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. This is an increase from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. Thomson Reuters’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.52%.

Institutional Trading of Thomson Reuters

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Thomson Reuters by 76.9% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 184 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC raised its position in Thomson Reuters by 125.0% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 234 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group bought a new position in Thomson Reuters in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters during the third quarter worth $47,000. 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.