Legal & General Group Plc Lowers Stake in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its position in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI - Free Report) TSE: TRI by 21.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 882,300 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 243,891 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.20% of Thomson Reuters worth $141,602,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of TRI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Thomson Reuters by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,842 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $864,195,000 after buying an additional 76,382 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,764,429 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $764,654,000 after purchasing an additional 516,605 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Thomson Reuters by 74.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,315,080 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $214,236,000 after purchasing an additional 560,450 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Thomson Reuters by 52.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,153,240 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $185,011,000 after purchasing an additional 395,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Thomson Reuters in the 4th quarter worth approximately $148,221,000. 17.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Thomson Reuters Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE TRI traded up $1.76 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $183.46. 355,250 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 398,790. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.70. The company's 50 day moving average price is $173.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $167.90. Thomson Reuters Co. has a 12 month low of $149.50 and a 12 month high of $183.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI - Get Free Report) TSE: TRI last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The business services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.595 per share. This is a boost from Thomson Reuters's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $2.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Thomson Reuters's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Thomson Reuters from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. CIBC boosted their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $165.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Thomson Reuters from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Thomson Reuters from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Thomson Reuters from $187.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thomson Reuters presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $177.80.

Thomson Reuters 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.