Royal Bank of Canada Raises Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) Price Target to $173.00

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) had its price target increased by Royal Bank of Canada from $171.00 to $173.00 in a research report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sector perform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Thomson Reuters from $163.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Thomson Reuters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $164.00 to $182.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Thomson Reuters from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $176.33.

Thomson Reuters Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE TRI opened at $168.23 on Wednesday. Thomson Reuters has a 12-month low of $129.02 and a 12-month high of $176.03. The stock has a market cap of $75.68 billion, a PE ratio of 33.12, a P/E/G ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a 50-day moving average of $168.63 and a 200 day moving average of $166.72.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The business services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Thomson Reuters had a net margin of 32.12% and a return on equity of 14.85%. Thomson Reuters’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Thomson Reuters will post 3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. This is a positive change from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Thomson Reuters’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.52%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Thomson Reuters

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in Thomson Reuters during the 1st quarter worth $232,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in Thomson Reuters by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 6,360 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $991,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in Thomson Reuters during the 1st quarter worth $431,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Thomson Reuters by 3.9% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,433 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,158,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters in the first quarter valued at about $610,000. 17.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.