FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) Announces $1.04 Quarterly Dividend

FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 4th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 1.04 per share by the business services provider on Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%.

FactSet Research Systems has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 25 consecutive years. FactSet Research Systems has a payout ratio of 22.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect FactSet Research Systems to earn $18.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.16 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.3%.

FactSet Research Systems Stock Performance

NYSE:FDS opened at $469.84 on Tuesday. 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 has a 52-week low of $391.84 and a 52-week high of $499.87. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $476.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $455.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.87 billion, a PE ratio of 33.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.77.

FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The business services provider reported $4.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.25 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $568.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $565.14 million. FactSet Research Systems had a return on equity of 33.92% and a net margin of 24.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.12 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that FactSet Research Systems will post 17.21 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on FactSet Research Systems from $373.00 to $409.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $503.00 price objective on shares of FactSet Research Systems in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $521.00 to $518.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of FactSet Research Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $420.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, FactSet Research Systems presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $453.46.

Insider Activity

In other FactSet Research Systems news, insider John Costigan sold 1,622 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $481.00, for a total transaction of $780,182.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $143,819. This trade represents a 84.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.