FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) Short Interest Down 22.4% in January

FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,560,000 shares, a drop of 22.4% from the January 15th total of 2,010,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 299,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.2 days. Approximately 4.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on FDS shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $503.00 to $500.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $469.00 to $493.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on FactSet Research Systems from $373.00 to $409.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group upped 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 report on Friday, November 15th. Five investment 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 company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $453.23.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 2.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 42,303 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,096,592 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $527,411,000 after acquiring an additional 94,668 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 505,587 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $240,184,000 after acquiring an additional 16,522 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 501,068 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $240,653,000 after acquiring an additional 7,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in FactSet Research Systems by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 456,149 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $219,079,000 after acquiring an additional 66,861 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.24% of the company’s stock.

FactSet Research Systems Price Performance

NYSE FDS opened at $456.24 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $471.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $458.24. FactSet Research Systems has a 12-month low of $391.84 and a 12-month high of $499.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.35 billion, a PE ratio of 32.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $4.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $568.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $565.14 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.12 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that FactSet Research Systems will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FactSet Research Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $1.04 per share. This represents a $4.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. 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.