Retirement Systems of Alabama Lowers Holdings in FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS)

Retirement Systems of Alabama decreased its holdings in FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,225 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 126 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in FactSet Research Systems were worth $3,950,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FDS. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in FactSet Research Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,909,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in FactSet Research Systems by 21.0% in the fourth 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 during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in FactSet Research Systems by 12.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 493,350 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $226,867,000 after purchasing an additional 52,741 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position 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 buying an additional 42,303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 296,329 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $136,267,000 after buying an additional 25,294 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on FDS shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on FactSet Research Systems from $373.00 to $409.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on FactSet Research Systems from $469.00 to $493.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on FactSet Research Systems from $521.00 to $518.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on FactSet Research Systems from $485.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. 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, December 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $453.46.

FactSet Research Systems Stock Performance

NYSE FDS opened at $460.07 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $473.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $457.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. FactSet Research Systems Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $391.84 and a fifty-two week high of $499.87.

FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $4.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.25 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $568.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $565.14 million. FactSet Research Systems had a return on equity of 33.92% and a net margin of 24.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.12 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $1.04 per share. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. FactSet Research Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.82%.

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.