Barclays PLC Reduces Stock Position in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI)

Barclays PLC cut its stake in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) by 35.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 35,516 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 19,520 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Thomson Reuters were worth $6,059,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in TRI. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in Thomson Reuters in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Asset Dedication LLC increased its position in Thomson Reuters by 125.0% during the third quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 234 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group purchased a new stake in Thomson Reuters during the third quarter valued at $42,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Thomson Reuters in the third quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Thomson Reuters by 104.4% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 327 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. 17.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on TRI shares. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Thomson Reuters in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Thomson Reuters from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Thomson Reuters from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Thomson Reuters from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $175.20.

Thomson Reuters Stock Performance

NYSE:TRI opened at $162.78 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $165.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $166.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.04, a P/E/G ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 0.71. Thomson Reuters Co. has a 12-month low of $140.33 and a 12-month high of $176.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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 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 business had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. This is a boost from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Thomson Reuters’s payout ratio is presently 42.52%.

Thomson Reuters 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.