Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ:TRI) to Repurchase $500 million in Shares

Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ:TRI) declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, November 11th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $500 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 1.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Thomson Reuters Price Performance

TRI stock traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $108.83. The stock had a trading volume of 1,226,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,968,365. Thomson Reuters has a 52-week low of $76.28 and a 52-week high of $142.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $106.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.87. The company has a market cap of $47.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.69.

Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ:TRI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 15.72% and a net margin of 20.02%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Thomson Reuters will post 4.20 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Thomson Reuters Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 18th will be issued a $0.6550 dividend. This represents a $2.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 18th. Thomson Reuters’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Thomson Reuters in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Thomson Reuters from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $110.00 target price on Thomson Reuters and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Thomson Reuters in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, RBC Dominion Securities raised their target price on Thomson Reuters from $124.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Thomson Reuters presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $128.96.

About Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is a global provider of information, software and services for legal, tax, accounting, compliance, risk and financial professionals. Its products help customers research complex issues, manage workflows and make informed decisions. Key offerings include Westlaw and Practical Law for legal research and practice management, Checkpoint for tax and accounting research, and ONESOURCE for tax and trade compliance. The company also provides news and information through Reuters, its global news organization.