Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Invests $234,000 in FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 488 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,096,592 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $527,411,000 after buying an additional 94,668 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in FactSet Research Systems by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 505,587 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $240,184,000 after purchasing an additional 16,522 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 501,068 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $240,653,000 after purchasing an additional 7,718 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 456,149 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $219,079,000 after purchasing an additional 66,861 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 398,180 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $191,238,000 after buying an additional 48,444 shares in the last quarter. 91.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on FDS shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $498.00 to $466.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on FactSet Research Systems from $525.00 to $480.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on FactSet Research Systems from $409.00 to $390.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company cut FactSet Research Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $450.00 to $402.00 in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $503.00 price objective on shares of FactSet Research Systems in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $436.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other FactSet Research Systems news, CAO Gregory T. Moskoff sold 363 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $433.73, for a total transaction of $157,443.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 44 shares in the company, valued at $19,084.12. This represents a 89.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

FactSet Research Systems Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:FDS opened at $454.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.24 billion, a PE ratio of 32.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.88. 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 52-week low of $391.69 and a 52-week high of $499.87. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $432.58 and a 200 day moving average of $458.37.

FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The business services provider reported $4.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.17 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $570.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $570.65 million. FactSet Research Systems had a return on equity of 33.92% and a net margin of 24.16%. The company’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.22 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that FactSet Research Systems Inc. will post 17.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FactSet Research Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. This is a positive change from FactSet Research Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.04. FactSet Research Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.29%.

FactSet Research Systems Company Profile

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.