BNP Paribas Financial Markets Sells 129,330 Shares of FactSet Research Systems Inc. $FDS

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lowered its stake in shares of FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) by 62.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 77,381 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 129,330 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in FactSet Research Systems were worth $22,455,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in FactSet Research Systems by 444,058.1% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 13,857,733 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,021,376,000 after acquiring an additional 13,854,613 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in FactSet Research Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $151,492,000. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 3,285.3% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 307,923 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $89,356,000 after acquiring an additional 298,827 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its stake in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 1,356.3% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 279,768 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $80,151,000 after acquiring an additional 260,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 159.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 272,535 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $78,079,000 after buying an additional 167,424 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on FDS. Bank of America started 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 target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $243.00 to $240.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Barclays reduced 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 note on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of FactSet Research Systems in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group reduced 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 note on Wednesday, April 1st. One research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FactSet Research Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $279.62.

FactSet Research Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FDS opened at $255.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.43. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $227.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $244.29. FactSet Research Systems Inc. has a one year low of $185.00 and a one year high of $453.41. The firm has a market cap of $9.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.71.

FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The business services provider reported $4.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.37 by $0.09. FactSet Research Systems had a net margin of 24.48% and a return on equity of 30.25%. The business had revenue of $611.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $604.78 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.28 earnings per share. FactSet Research Systems’s revenue was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that FactSet Research Systems Inc. will post 17.66 EPS for the current year.

FactSet Research Systems Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This is a positive change from FactSet Research Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.10. FactSet Research Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.84%.

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.