Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI – Get Rating) (TSE:TRI) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,520,000 shares, an increase of 21.2% from the July 31st total of 2,080,000 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 519,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.8 days.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several research firms have issued reports on TRI. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Thomson Reuters from $123.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 5th. Barclays cut their target price on Thomson Reuters from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 1st. CIBC upgraded Thomson Reuters from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Thomson Reuters from $115.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Thomson Reuters from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.38.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Thomson Reuters
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Summit Global Investments boosted its stake in Thomson Reuters by 44.6% during the second quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 30,135 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,140,000 after buying an additional 9,292 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Thomson Reuters by 14.0% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,246 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Thomson Reuters by 227.9% during the second quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,331,569 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $138,763,000 after buying an additional 925,535 shares during the last quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Thomson Reuters by 11.8% during the second quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,406 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,397,000 after buying an additional 1,414 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cigna Investments Inc. New lifted its stake in shares of Thomson Reuters by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 3,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 21.18% of the company’s stock.
Thomson Reuters Price Performance
Shares of TRI traded down $0.55 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $109.90. 289,904 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 482,748. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. Thomson Reuters has a 12-month low of $91.55 and a 12-month high of $123.60. The company has a market cap of $53.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 113.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.54. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $109.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.37.
Thomson Reuters Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 17th. Thomson Reuters’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 183.51%.
About Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation provides 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.