Wells Fargo & Company Begins Coverage on Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI)

Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI - Free Report) TSE: TRI in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an equal weight rating and a $165.00 target price on the business services provider's stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on TRI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters from $163.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com cut Thomson Reuters from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Thomson Reuters from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $175.20.

Thomson Reuters Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE TRI traded down $0.54 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $160.18. 207,981 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 352,296. The company has a 50-day moving average of $167.14 and a 200-day moving average of $167.20. Thomson Reuters has a 52-week low of $138.30 and a 52-week high of $176.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.45 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

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

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. This is a boost from Thomson Reuters's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Thomson Reuters's payout ratio is presently 42.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Thomson Reuters by 23.8% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,770 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,612,000 after acquiring an additional 3,223 shares in the last quarter. &PARTNERS purchased a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters during the second quarter valued at approximately $278,000. Aigen Investment Management LP boosted its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 87.4% in the 3rd quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 7,326 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 3,417 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,506,000. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in Thomson Reuters by 87.1% during the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 505,050 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $85,136,000 after buying an additional 235,145 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 17.31% of the company's stock.

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.