Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – What’s Next?

Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Wednesday . 2,884,619 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 14% from the previous session’s volume of 2,536,621 shares.The stock last traded at $99.6220 and had previously closed at $90.09.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $160.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 6th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Thomson Reuters in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a $183.00 target price on Thomson Reuters and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. UBS Group set a $131.50 price target on Thomson Reuters in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $111.00 price objective on Thomson Reuters and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.42.

Thomson Reuters Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $113.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $140.41. The stock has a market cap of $44.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.79.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2 billion. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 14.62% and a net margin of 30.45%.The firm’s revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $0.655 per share. This represents a $2.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. This is an increase from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Thomson Reuters’s payout ratio is presently 78.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TRI. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Thomson Reuters in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Thomson Reuters during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Thomson Reuters by 50.0% in the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 249 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Timmons Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Thomson Reuters in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 17.31% of the company’s stock.

About Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) is a multinational information and media company that provides content, technology and services to professionals in the legal, tax & accounting, compliance, risk, corporate and media sectors. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, the company combines news and editorial content from the Reuters news agency with specialist workflow platforms and databases designed to support decision-making and regulatory compliance across industries worldwide.

The company’s product portfolio spans legal research and workflow tools, tax and accounting software, regulatory and risk management solutions, and real-time news and data services.