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

Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the firm, 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 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $176.10.

A number of research firms recently commented on TRI. StockNews.com upgraded Thomson Reuters from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Thomson Reuters in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $165.00 price objective on the stock. 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, CIBC increased their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $164.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd.

Thomson Reuters Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TRI opened at $159.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $71.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.89 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $163.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.37. Thomson Reuters has a fifty-two week low of $148.08 and a fifty-two week high of $176.03.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The business services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Thomson Reuters will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Thomson Reuters’s payout ratio is 42.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Thomson Reuters by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 7,630 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,224,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Thomson Reuters by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,819 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters in the 4th quarter worth about $1,391,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Thomson Reuters by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 205,336 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $32,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,601 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.