Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Reduces Stock Position in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA trimmed its position in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 456,745 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 27,665 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 0.10% of Thomson Reuters worth $73,253,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Curio Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Thomson Reuters in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Thomson Reuters in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Thomson Reuters by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 361 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. 17.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on TRI shares. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Thomson Reuters from $164.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters from $165.00 to $174.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Thomson Reuters from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $187.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $177.56.

Thomson Reuters Stock Performance

NYSE:TRI opened at $165.98 on Friday. Thomson Reuters Co. has a twelve month low of $149.50 and a twelve month high of $180.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.94, a PEG ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.70. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $173.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.97.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.595 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $2.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. This is a positive change from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. Thomson Reuters’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.67%.

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.