Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Grows Position in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) by 21.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,920 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 692 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Thomson Reuters were worth $576,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 134.9% in the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 195 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont purchased a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 162.0% in the fourth quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 241 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters in the third quarter valued at about $37,000. 17.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on TRI. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Thomson Reuters from $142.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. TD Securities lifted 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $153.00 target price on shares of Thomson Reuters in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. 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. Finally, CIBC lifted 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.42.

Thomson Reuters Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE TRI opened at $151.94 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $155.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Thomson Reuters Co. has a 1-year low of $117.46 and a 1-year high of $161.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.02, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.65.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (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 the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.06. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 14.01% and a net margin of 39.67%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.54 per share. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. Thomson Reuters’s payout ratio is 36.99%.

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.