The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 367,156 Shares of Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company decreased its position in shares of Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,725,119 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 367,156 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.38% of Thomson Reuters worth $294,440,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TRI. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 26.3% in the second quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 1,325,695 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $223,525,000 after purchasing an additional 276,206 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters in the second quarter worth $45,514,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 11.0% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,577,905 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $439,665,000 after purchasing an additional 255,387 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its position in shares of Thomson Reuters by 87.1% in the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 505,050 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $85,136,000 after purchasing an additional 235,145 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters in the third quarter worth $29,250,000. Institutional investors own 17.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TRI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Thomson Reuters in a research note on Tuesday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $165.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Thomson Reuters from $171.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. National Bank Financial raised Thomson Reuters from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Thomson Reuters from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Thomson Reuters from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.20.

Thomson Reuters Price Performance

Thomson Reuters stock opened at $160.72 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $167.14 and its 200 day moving average is $167.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $72.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.64, a P/E/G ratio of 5.45 and a beta of 0.73. Thomson Reuters Co. has a one year low of $138.30 and a one year high of $176.03.

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

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. This is a positive change from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Thomson Reuters’s payout ratio is currently 42.52%.

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.