Natixis Buys 12,692 Shares of Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI)

Natixis increased its stake in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI - Free Report) TSE: TRI by 739.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,409 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,692 shares during the period. Natixis' holdings in Thomson Reuters were worth $2,311,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Thomson Reuters by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,842 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $864,195,000 after purchasing an additional 76,382 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in 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 valued at $764,654,000 after buying an additional 516,605 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Thomson Reuters by 74.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,315,080 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $214,236,000 after buying an additional 560,450 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Thomson Reuters by 52.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,153,240 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $185,011,000 after buying an additional 395,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters in the 4th quarter valued at $148,221,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 17.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on TRI. CIBC raised their price objective on Thomson Reuters from $165.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Thomson Reuters from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $168.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Thomson Reuters in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $180.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Thomson Reuters from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $177.80.

Thomson Reuters Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TRI traded down $0.37 on Friday, hitting $181.66. The stock had a trading volume of 633,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 412,440. Thomson Reuters Co. has a twelve month low of $149.85 and a twelve month high of $184.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $174.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $168.64. The company has a market capitalization of $81.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.70.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI - Get Free Report) TSE: TRI last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The business services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.04. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 14.62% and a net margin of 30.45%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a $0.595 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Thomson Reuters's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.38 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Thomson Reuters's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.67%.

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.