Empirical Asset Management LLC Buys Shares of 2,768 FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS)

Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 2,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,329,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp grew its position in FactSet Research Systems by 2.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,932,376 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $888,603,000 after acquiring an additional 42,303 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in FactSet Research Systems by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,001,924 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $460,467,000 after purchasing an additional 8,376 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 12.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 493,350 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $226,867,000 after buying an additional 52,741 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 1.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 4,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in FactSet Research Systems by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 340,494 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $164,653,000 after purchasing an additional 59,173 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on FDS shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on FactSet Research Systems from $435.00 to $503.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of FactSet Research Systems in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “inline” rating and a $470.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $469.00 to $493.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $485.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $521.00 to $518.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, FactSet Research Systems currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $453.46.

FactSet Research Systems Price Performance

FDS stock opened at $462.64 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market cap of $17.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.16, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $480.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $451.46. FactSet Research Systems Inc. has a 12-month low of $391.84 and a 12-month high of $499.87.

FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $4.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.25 by $0.12. FactSet Research Systems had a return on equity of 33.92% and a net margin of 24.16%. The company had revenue of $568.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $565.14 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that FactSet Research Systems Inc. will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current year.

FactSet Research Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $1.04 per share. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. FactSet Research Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.82%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Costigan sold 1,622 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $481.00, for a total transaction of $780,182.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $143,819. This represents a 84.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.