MML Investors Services LLC Reduces Stock Position in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI)

MML Investors Services LLC lowered its position in shares of Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI - Free Report) TSE: TRI by 29.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,925 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 5,761 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC's holdings in Thomson Reuters were worth $2,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Thomson Reuters in the third quarter valued at $1,157,000. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in Thomson Reuters by 115.7% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 963,315 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $164,292,000 after acquiring an additional 516,715 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Thomson Reuters by 33.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,145 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,757,000 after acquiring an additional 4,039 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Thomson Reuters during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $8,246,000. Finally, Prana Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Thomson Reuters during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $19,143,000. 17.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on TRI shares. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Thomson Reuters in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Thomson Reuters from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Thomson Reuters from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thomson Reuters has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $175.20.

Thomson Reuters Price Performance

Shares of TRI traded down $1.11 on Monday, reaching $166.99. The stock had a trading volume of 196,423 shares, compared to its average volume of 349,671. Thomson Reuters Co. has a twelve month low of $138.85 and a twelve month high of $176.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.13 billion, a PE ratio of 32.87, a PEG ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $166.16 and a 200 day moving average of $166.70. 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 (NYSE:TRI - Get Free Report) TSE: TRI last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The business services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. Thomson Reuters's revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.69 EPS for the current 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 dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from Thomson Reuters's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Thomson Reuters's dividend payout ratio is 42.52%.

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.