Swiss National Bank Cuts Stock Position in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI)

Swiss National Bank cut its position in shares of Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 518,155 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 14,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Thomson Reuters were worth $75,898,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Trust Co. of Vermont purchased a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Thomson Reuters by 162.0% during the 4th quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 241 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new position in Thomson Reuters in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC bought a new stake in Thomson Reuters in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Thomson Reuters during the third quarter valued at about $37,000. 17.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Thomson Reuters Stock Performance

Thomson Reuters stock opened at $164.74 on Monday. Thomson Reuters Co. has a fifty-two week low of $117.46 and a fifty-two week high of $166.11. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $155.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $146.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market cap of $74.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 4.52 and a beta of 0.65.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $1.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.86 billion. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 34.87%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thomson Reuters Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Thomson Reuters’s payout ratio is 41.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays raised Thomson Reuters from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $150.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. TD Securities increased their price objective on Thomson Reuters from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Thomson Reuters from $149.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $153.00 to $156.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Thomson Reuters from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Thomson Reuters currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $164.31.

About Thomson Reuters

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.