Empower Advisory Group LLC Acquires 290 Shares of Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI)

Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,485 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Thomson Reuters were worth $880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of TRI. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Thomson Reuters in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Thomson Reuters by 104.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 327 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Thomson Reuters by 67.6% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Thomson Reuters in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Institutional investors own 17.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TRI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Thomson Reuters from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. CIBC lifted their target price on Thomson Reuters from $165.00 to $174.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Thomson Reuters from $168.00 to $188.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Thomson Reuters from $187.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Thomson Reuters from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $182.09.

Thomson Reuters Stock Performance

TRI opened at $173.52 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $165.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $166.15. The company has a market capitalization of $78.09 billion, a PE ratio of 35.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.59 and a beta of 0.73. Thomson Reuters Co. has a 1 year low of $149.50 and a 1 year high of $179.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The business services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.04. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 14.78% and a net margin of 30.45%. Research analysts expect that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.595 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This is an increase from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.38 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. Thomson Reuters’s payout ratio is 44.17%.

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.