Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd Sells 4,976 Shares of FactSet Research Systems Inc. $FDS

Key Points

• Swiss Life Asset Management cut its FactSet stake by 46.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 4,976 shares and leaving it with 5,711 shares valued at about $1.66 million.
• FactSet’s earnings and revenue beat expectations in its latest quarter, with EPS of $4.46 versus $4.37 expected and revenue of $611.0 million, up 7.1% year over year.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $1.16 per share, while analysts remain cautious overall with an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $279.85.

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS - Free Report) by 46.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund 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 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FDS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in FactSet Research Systems by 2.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,932,382 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,413,078,000 after purchasing an additional 107,184 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in FactSet Research Systems by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,961,231 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $561,873,000 after purchasing an additional 23,660 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in FactSet Research Systems by 3.2% during the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 856,039 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $245,247,000 after purchasing an additional 26,865 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in FactSet Research Systems by 16.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 793,832 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $227,425,000 after purchasing an additional 110,686 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in FactSet Research Systems by 8.3% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 572,756 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $164,089,000 after purchasing an additional 43,748 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.24% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on FDS. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $253.00 to $217.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $300.00 to $210.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of FactSet Research Systems in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of FactSet Research Systems in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $195.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, FactSet Research Systems currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $279.85.

FactSet Research Systems Stock Up 6.3%

Shares of NYSE:FDS opened at $212.49 on Friday. FactSet Research Systems Inc. has a 1 year low of $185.00 and a 1 year high of $474.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.74 billion, a PE ratio of 13.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $218.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $247.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.43.

FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The business services provider reported $4.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.37 by $0.09. FactSet Research Systems had a return on equity of 30.25% and a net margin of 24.48%.The business had revenue of $611.02 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $604.78 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.28 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that FactSet Research Systems Inc. will post 17.65 EPS for the current year.

FactSet Research Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $1.16 per share. This represents a $4.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is a positive change from FactSet Research Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. FactSet Research Systems's dividend payout ratio is 28.30%.

FactSet Research Systems Profile

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.

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