Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Increases Stake in Thomson Reuters Co. $TRI

Key Points

• Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. significantly increased its stake in Thomson Reuters, boosting its holdings by 81.1% to reach approximately $7.68 million in value.
• Despite a notable increase in institutional interest, Thomson Reuters saw a mix of analyst ratings, with one downgrade to "sell" and several adjustments in target prices by firms like JPMorgan and Barclays.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.595 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 1.4% and a payout ratio of 65.75%.

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI - Free Report) TSE: TRI by 81.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 44,488 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 19,925 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.'s holdings in Thomson Reuters were worth $7,682,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of TRI. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Thomson Reuters by 139.5% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 8,544,503 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,370,564,000 after purchasing an additional 4,977,006 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Thomson Reuters by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 5,514,492 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $951,477,000 after purchasing an additional 750,063 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Thomson Reuters in the 1st quarter valued at $23,126,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Thomson Reuters by 16,802.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 116,799 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $20,181,000 after purchasing an additional 116,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Thomson Reuters by 111.9% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 186,426 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $29,899,000 after purchasing an additional 98,441 shares in the last quarter. 17.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Thomson Reuters Trading Up 1.4%

NYSE TRI traded up $2.46 during trading on Friday, hitting $178.55. The stock had a trading volume of 1,206,419 shares, compared to its average volume of 888,359. The company has a market capitalization of $80.46 billion, a PE ratio of 36.51, a PEG ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $194.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $185.34. Thomson Reuters Co. has a twelve month low of $151.60 and a twelve month high of $218.42.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI - Get Free Report) TSE: TRI last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.79 billion. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 14.62% and a net margin of 30.45%.Thomson Reuters's revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Thomson Reuters Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be given a $0.595 dividend. This represents a $2.38 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 19th. Thomson Reuters's payout ratio is currently 65.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on TRI. TD Securities decreased their target price on shares of Thomson Reuters from $215.00 to $208.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Scotiabank raised Thomson Reuters from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $188.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. CIBC raised Thomson Reuters from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays raised their target price on Thomson Reuters from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Thomson Reuters from $181.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Thomson Reuters currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $194.20.

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.