Barclays PLC Trims Stake in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI)

Barclays PLC lessened its holdings in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI - Free Report) TSE: TRI by 35.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 35,516 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 19,520 shares during the period. Barclays PLC's holdings in Thomson Reuters were worth $6,059,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Thomson Reuters during the second quarter worth $221,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Thomson Reuters by 4.8% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,180 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. &PARTNERS purchased a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters during the second quarter valued at about $278,000. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Thomson Reuters by 37.2% in the 2nd quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 17,568 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,961,000 after buying an additional 4,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC purchased a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $200,000. 17.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TRI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. National Bank Financial raised shares of Thomson Reuters from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Thomson Reuters from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Thomson Reuters from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Thomson Reuters in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $165.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Thomson Reuters from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thomson Reuters has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $175.20.

Thomson Reuters Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:TRI traded down $0.58 during trading on Friday, hitting $162.20. The stock had a trading volume of 177,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 347,844. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $141.63 and a 12-month high of $176.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 0.71. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $165.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $166.58.

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

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. This is a positive change from Thomson Reuters's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Thomson Reuters's dividend payout ratio is presently 42.52%.

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.