Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) Sets New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $180.33 and last traded at $180.32, with a volume of 7876 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $178.82.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on TRI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters from $168.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. CIBC boosted their price objective on Thomson Reuters from $165.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Thomson Reuters from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Thomson Reuters from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Thomson Reuters from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $182.09.

Thomson Reuters Stock Performance

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 stock has a market capitalization of $79.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.73. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $167.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $167.38.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The business services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.04. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 14.62% and a net margin of 30.45%. Analysts forecast that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.595 dividend. This is an increase from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.38 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. Thomson Reuters’s payout ratio is currently 48.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TRI. Aigen Investment Management LP increased its stake in Thomson Reuters by 87.4% during the 3rd quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 7,326 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,250,000 after buying an additional 3,417 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters during the third quarter worth $4,506,000. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Thomson Reuters by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,819 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Thomson Reuters by 52.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,153,240 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $185,011,000 after purchasing an additional 395,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,127,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 17.31% of the company’s stock.

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.