Capital Investment Counsel LLC Reduces Stock Position in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI)

Capital Investment Counsel LLC lessened its position in Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,134 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 788 shares during the period. Thomson Reuters accounts for 1.6% of Capital Investment Counsel LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Capital Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Thomson Reuters were worth $9,805,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Thomson Reuters by 5.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 183,605 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $30,954,000 after acquiring an additional 9,571 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters in the 2nd quarter worth about $303,000. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters in the 2nd quarter worth about $236,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 179.5% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 243,524 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,033,000 after buying an additional 156,410 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning raised its stake in Thomson Reuters by 1.0% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 16,828 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,837,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 17.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. CIBC lifted their price objective on Thomson Reuters from $164.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Thomson Reuters in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $165.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised Thomson Reuters from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Thomson Reuters from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Thomson Reuters presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $176.10.

Thomson Reuters Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE TRI opened at $166.11 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $162.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $165.14. Thomson Reuters Co. has a 52-week low of $148.16 and a 52-week high of $176.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $74.75 billion, a PE ratio of 32.70, a P/E/G ratio of 5.18 and a beta of 0.72.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The business services provider reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 14.85% and a net margin of 32.12%. The business had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a $0.54 dividend. This is a positive change from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. Thomson Reuters’s payout ratio is 42.52%.

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.