Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Shares of Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI - Get Free Report) TSE: TRI have been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the ten brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $177.56.

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. CIBC upped their price target on Thomson Reuters from $165.00 to $174.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Thomson Reuters from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on Thomson Reuters from $187.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Thomson Reuters

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Investment Advisors MI boosted its position in Thomson Reuters by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 2,318 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Thomson Reuters by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 4,335 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $695,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,196 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $192,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 1.6% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,235 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $722,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC increased its stake in Thomson Reuters by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 1,271 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. 17.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Thomson Reuters Stock Performance

TRI traded down $1.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $161.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 687,581 shares, compared to its average volume of 382,981. 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 company's fifty day moving average price is $173.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $167.81. Thomson Reuters has a 52-week low of $149.50 and a 52-week high of $180.42. The company has a market capitalization of $72.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.02, 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The business services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share 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 analysts forecast that Thomson Reuters will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.595 dividend. This is an increase 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. Thomson Reuters's payout ratio is presently 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.