Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) Shares Bought by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) by 9.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,458,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 125,167 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned approximately 0.32% of Thomson Reuters worth $245,893,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Thomson Reuters by 23.8% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,770 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,612,000 after purchasing an additional 3,223 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 4,994,299 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $730,195,000 after buying an additional 445,444 shares during the last quarter. Gillson Capital LP acquired a new stake in Thomson Reuters during the fourth quarter worth about $15,063,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Thomson Reuters by 874.0% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 130,744 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $20,351,000 after acquiring an additional 117,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Thomson Reuters by 52.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 158,203 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $23,132,000 after acquiring an additional 54,140 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 17.31% of the company’s stock.

Thomson Reuters Stock Down 0.4 %

TRI stock opened at $169.94 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $166.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $164.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $76.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.71 and a beta of 0.73. Thomson Reuters Co. has a 52 week low of $117.46 and a 52 week high of $176.03.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.03. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 15.22% and a net margin of 33.65%. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thomson Reuters Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.146 per share. This represents a $0.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Thomson Reuters’s payout ratio is currently 41.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on TRI shares. Scotiabank upgraded Thomson Reuters from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $164.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Thomson Reuters from $163.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $170.00 to $168.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Thomson Reuters from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Thomson Reuters currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $173.45.

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.