Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd Trims Stock Position in FactSet Research Systems Inc. $FDS

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd cut its stake in shares of FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) by 46.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,711 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,976 shares during the quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in FactSet Research Systems were worth $1,657,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,932,382 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,413,078,000 after buying an additional 107,184 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,961,231 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $561,873,000 after buying an additional 23,660 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 856,039 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $245,247,000 after buying an additional 26,865 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 793,832 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $227,425,000 after buying an additional 110,686 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 572,756 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $164,089,000 after buying an additional 43,748 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on FactSet Research Systems from $425.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $253.00 to $217.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of FactSet Research Systems in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $195.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $320.00 to $243.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $300.00 to $210.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $279.85.

FactSet Research Systems Stock Up 6.3%

Shares of FactSet Research Systems stock opened at $212.49 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $218.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $247.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. FactSet Research Systems Inc. has a 52-week low of $185.00 and a 52-week high of $474.79. The company has a market cap of $7.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.67, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.69.

FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 31st. The business services provider reported $4.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.37 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $611.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $604.78 million. FactSet Research Systems had a return on equity of 30.25% and a net margin of 24.48%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.28 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that FactSet Research Systems Inc. will post 17.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FactSet Research Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a $1.16 dividend. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This is an increase from FactSet Research Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. FactSet Research Systems’s payout ratio is 28.30%.

About FactSet Research Systems

FactSet Research Systems Inc operates as a global provider of integrated financial data and analytics to the investment community. Founded in 1978 and headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, the company offers a unified platform that aggregates content from thousands of sources, delivering real-time and historical market data, company fundamentals, estimates, fixed-income information and proprietary analytics to portfolio managers, research analysts, investment bankers and risk officers.

The company’s core products include the FactSet Workstation, an application offering customizable screening, charting, portfolio analysis and news; APIs and data feeds for seamless integration into proprietary systems; and cloud-based solutions for thematic research and quantitative strategies.