Short Interest in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) Expands By 20.9%

Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI - Get Free Report) TSE: TRI saw a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,330,000 shares, an increase of 20.9% from the March 15th total of 1,100,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 475,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TRI. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Thomson Reuters in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Thomson Reuters by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,819 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Thomson Reuters by 52.2% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,153,240 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $185,011,000 after purchasing an additional 395,481 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Thomson Reuters by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 2,546 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $409,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Thomson Reuters by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,966 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $958,000 after purchasing an additional 1,145 shares during the last quarter. 17.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on TRI. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Thomson Reuters in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $180.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Thomson Reuters from $187.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Thomson Reuters from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Thomson Reuters from $168.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters from $165.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Thomson Reuters has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $177.80.

Thomson Reuters Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of TRI traded down $1.59 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $180.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 158,636 shares, compared to its average volume of 409,459. The company has a 50 day moving average of $174.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $168.53. 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 market cap of $81.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.89, a P/E/G ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.70. Thomson Reuters has a 1-year low of $149.80 and a 1-year high of $184.17.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI - Get Free Report) TSE: TRI last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The business services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.04. Thomson Reuters had a net margin of 30.45% and a return on equity of 14.62%. As a group, research analysts predict that Thomson Reuters will post 3.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.595 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $2.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. This is an increase from Thomson Reuters's previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Thomson Reuters's payout ratio is 48.67%.

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.