Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ:TRI)

Key Points

• Jefferies initiated coverage of Thomson Reuters with a “buy” rating and a $130 price target, implying approximately 20% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive, with 11 Buy ratings and six Holds, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $130.90.
• Thomson Reuters recently exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.99 EPS versus $0.96 expected and $1.93 billion in revenue, up 9.5% year over year.

Equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ:TRI - Get Free Report) in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm set a "buy" rating and a $130.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group's target price suggests a potential upside of 20.11% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on TRI. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters from $140.00 to $130.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Scotia reduced their price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Scotiabank reiterated a "sector outperform" rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, TD Securities reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Thomson Reuters in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Thomson Reuters presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $130.90.

Thomson Reuters Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ TRI opened at $108.23 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Thomson Reuters has a 52 week low of $76.28 and a 52 week high of $164.30. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $102.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $93.98. The company has a market cap of $46.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.75.

Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ:TRI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.03. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 15.82% and a net margin of 21.22%. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. Thomson Reuters's quarterly revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Thomson Reuters will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Thomson Reuters by 48.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,627,069 shares of the company's stock valued at $146,404,000 after buying an additional 532,803 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Thomson Reuters by 33.3% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,588,756 shares of the company's stock worth $142,956,000 after buying an additional 397,150 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Thomson Reuters by 65.1% in the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,500,365 shares of the company's stock worth $135,297,000 after buying an additional 591,642 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Thomson Reuters by 13.2% in the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,468,484 shares of the company's stock valued at $143,304,000 after acquiring an additional 171,375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters in the second quarter valued at approximately $107,223,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 17.31% of the company's stock.

About Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is a global provider of information, software and technology solutions for professionals and institutions. The company serves customers in the legal, tax, accounting, audit, corporate, government, risk and compliance sectors, as well as the media industry. Its offerings combine authoritative content with workflow tools, data analytics and artificial intelligence.

Key products and services include Westlaw and Practical Law for legal research and practice management; Checkpoint and ONESOURCE for tax and accounting professionals; Confirmation for audit-related workflows; and CoCounsel, an AI-assisted legal technology platform.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.