Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) Shares Up 10.4% – Time to Buy?

Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) shot up 10.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $90.79 and last traded at $89.28. 2,462,052 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 6% from the average session volume of 2,315,682 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.86.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $156.00 target price (down from $189.00) on shares of Thomson Reuters in a report on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group set a $131.50 price objective on Thomson Reuters in a research note on Friday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $111.00 target price on Thomson Reuters and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $174.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters from $160.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 6th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Thomson Reuters currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.42.

Thomson Reuters Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $114.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $40.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.79.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2 billion. Thomson Reuters had a net margin of 30.45% and a return on equity of 14.62%. Thomson Reuters’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Thomson Reuters Co. 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 will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.655 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This is a positive change from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Thomson Reuters’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.68%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Thomson Reuters

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TRI. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Thomson Reuters by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,776,640 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $762,320,000 after buying an additional 85,684 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in Thomson Reuters by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 4,664,372 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $616,342,000 after acquiring an additional 33,418 shares in the last quarter. TLT Family Holdco ULC acquired a new stake in Thomson Reuters in the 2nd quarter valued at about $865,442,000. LCC Family Corp. acquired a new stake in Thomson Reuters in the 2nd quarter valued at about $813,253,000. Finally, SEG Family Corp. bought a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters during the 2nd quarter valued at about $659,930,000. 17.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Thomson Reuters Company Profile

Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) is a multinational information and media company that provides content, technology and services to professionals in the legal, tax & accounting, compliance, risk, corporate and media sectors. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, the company combines news and editorial content from the Reuters news agency with specialist workflow platforms and databases designed to support decision-making and regulatory compliance across industries worldwide.

The company’s product portfolio spans legal research and workflow tools, tax and accounting software, regulatory and risk management solutions, and real-time news and data services.