Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Takes $2.34 Million Position in Thomson Reuters Co. $TRI

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 15,031 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,335,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of TRI. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Thomson Reuters by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,690,956 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $883,680,000 after purchasing an additional 73,725 shares in the last quarter. TLT Family Holdco ULC purchased a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $865,442,000. LCC Family Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters during the second quarter worth approximately $813,253,000. SEG Family Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters in the second quarter worth $659,930,000. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in shares of Thomson Reuters by 1.1% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 2,518,855 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $506,211,000 after buying an additional 26,588 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 17.31% of the company’s stock.

Thomson Reuters Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of Thomson Reuters stock opened at $80.86 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.79. Thomson Reuters Co. has a twelve month low of $79.71 and a twelve month high of $218.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.04.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 14.62% and a net margin of 30.45%.The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a $0.655 dividend. This is a boost from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Thomson Reuters’s dividend payout ratio is 78.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on TRI shares. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Thomson Reuters from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $126.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $174.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a $183.00 price objective on Thomson Reuters and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $140.00 target price on Thomson Reuters and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $165.00 price target on Thomson Reuters in a report on Friday, February 6th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.42.

Thomson Reuters Profile

Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) is a multinational information and media company that provides content, technology and services to professionals in the legal, tax & accounting, compliance, risk, corporate and media sectors. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, the company combines news and editorial content from the Reuters news agency with specialist workflow platforms and databases designed to support decision-making and regulatory compliance across industries worldwide.

The company’s product portfolio spans legal research and workflow tools, tax and accounting software, regulatory and risk management solutions, and real-time news and data services.