The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 367,156 Shares of Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lowered its stake in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,725,119 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 367,156 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Thomson Reuters were worth $294,440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in Thomson Reuters during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Thomson Reuters by 76.9% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 184 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC increased its stake in Thomson Reuters by 125.0% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 234 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Clean Yield Group bought a new stake in Thomson Reuters during the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Thomson Reuters during the 3rd quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors own 17.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on TRI. StockNews.com lowered shares of Thomson Reuters from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Thomson Reuters from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Thomson Reuters from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Thomson Reuters from $163.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Thomson Reuters in a research note on Tuesday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $165.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.20.

Thomson Reuters Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:TRI opened at $160.72 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $167.14 and its 200 day moving average is $167.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $72.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.45 and a beta of 0.73. Thomson Reuters Co. has a fifty-two week low of $138.30 and a fifty-two week high of $176.03.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The business services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Thomson Reuters had a net margin of 32.12% and a return on equity of 14.85%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.54 dividend. This is an increase from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Thomson Reuters’s payout ratio is 42.52%.

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.