Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lessened its holdings in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI - Free Report) TSE: TRI by 6.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 435,092 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 32,110 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned about 0.10% of Thomson Reuters worth $63,822,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Thomson Reuters in the 4th quarter worth about $207,419,000. Bank of Nova Scotia acquired a new stake in Thomson Reuters in the 3rd quarter worth about $170,036,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Thomson Reuters by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,657,244 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $692,059,000 after buying an additional 1,179,155 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Thomson Reuters by 6,607,664.7% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,123,320 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $138,048,000 after buying an additional 1,123,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Thomson Reuters by 227.9% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,331,569 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $138,763,000 after purchasing an additional 925,535 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 17.31% of the company's stock.

Thomson Reuters Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE TRI traded down $0.49 on Friday, reaching $150.30. The stock had a trading volume of 408,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 305,689. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Thomson Reuters Co. has a 12-month low of $117.46 and a 12-month high of $161.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $156.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $144.12.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI - Get Free Report) TSE: TRI last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The business services provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 14.01% and a net margin of 39.67%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a $0.54 dividend. This is a positive change from Thomson Reuters's previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. Thomson Reuters's payout ratio is presently 36.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on TRI. CIBC boosted their target price on Thomson Reuters from $146.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. National Bank Financial cut Thomson Reuters from a "sector perform under weight" rating to an "underperform underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. TD Securities boosted their target price on Thomson Reuters from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Barclays upgraded Thomson Reuters from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $180.00 in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $153.00 price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $157.42.

Thomson Reuters Company 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.