FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a hold rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $450.00.

A number of brokerages recently commented on FDS. UBS Group lifted their price objective on FactSet Research Systems from $485.00 to $525.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $451.00 to $469.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $471.00 to $521.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of FactSet Research Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $420.00 to $380.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $503.00 price objective on shares of FactSet Research Systems in a research report on Friday, November 15th.

Insider Transactions at FactSet Research Systems

In other news, CEO Frederick Philip Snow sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.59, for a total value of $1,249,770.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,915 shares in the company, valued at $5,380,259.85. This trade represents a 18.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Costigan sold 1,622 shares of FactSet Research Systems stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $481.00, for a total value of $780,182.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $143,819. This represents a 84.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,984 shares of company stock valued at $12,230,877 in the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of FactSet Research Systems

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in FactSet Research Systems by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,571,550 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,077,267,000 after purchasing an additional 11,974 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,932,376 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $888,603,000 after acquiring an additional 42,303 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd raised its stake in FactSet Research Systems by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,216,461 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $496,645,000 after acquiring an additional 10,928 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in FactSet Research Systems by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,001,924 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $460,467,000 after acquiring an additional 8,376 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in FactSet Research Systems by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 373,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $171,702,000 after purchasing an additional 4,113 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.24% of the company’s stock.

FactSet Research Systems Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE FDS opened at $481.36 on Friday. FactSet Research Systems has a 1 year low of $391.84 and a 1 year high of $499.87. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $463.55 and its 200-day moving average is $434.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.29 billion, a PE ratio of 34.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.75.

FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The business services provider reported $3.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $562.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $547.06 million. FactSet Research Systems had a net margin of 24.38% and a return on equity of 34.77%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.93 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that FactSet Research Systems will post 17.2 EPS for the current year.

FactSet Research Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $1.04 dividend. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. FactSet Research Systems’s payout ratio is 29.93%.

About FactSet Research Systems

FactSet Research Systems Inc, a financial data company, provides integrated financial information and analytical applications to the investment community in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company delivers insight and information through the workflow solutions of research, analytics and trading, content and technology solutions, and wealth.