Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Raises Holdings in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) by 122.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 69,509 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,285 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Thomson Reuters were worth $10,212,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Thomson Reuters by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 6,240,651 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $755,514,000 after acquiring an additional 919,603 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 26.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,657,244 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $692,059,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179,155 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Thomson Reuters by 2.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,584,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $573,125,000 after buying an additional 150,880 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Thomson Reuters by 6.2% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,088,818 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $500,872,000 after buying an additional 240,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Thomson Reuters in the 4th quarter valued at $207,419,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 17.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Thomson Reuters from $142.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Barclays upgraded shares of Thomson Reuters from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $150.00 to $180.00 in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $153.00 price target on shares of Thomson Reuters in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. 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. Finally, CIBC boosted their target price on Thomson Reuters from $146.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.42.

Thomson Reuters Price Performance

Shares of TRI opened at $150.30 on Friday. 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 cap of $67.85 billion, a PE ratio of 25.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $155.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $144.32.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The business services provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 14.01% and a net margin of 39.67%. The business’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 8th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 20th. This is a positive change from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. Thomson Reuters’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.99%.

Thomson Reuters 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.