Willis Investment Counsel Acquires 2,346 Shares of FactSet Research Systems Inc. $FDS

Willis Investment Counsel grew its holdings in shares of FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) by 11.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,002 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,346 shares during the quarter. Willis Investment Counsel owned about 0.06% of FactSet Research Systems worth $6,675,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Running Oak Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 14.0% in the third quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 41,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $11,842,000 after acquiring an additional 5,072 shares during the period. Nuance Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of FactSet Research Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,733,000. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 5.3% in the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 280,187 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $80,271,000 after acquiring an additional 14,133 shares during the period. Financial Strategies Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of FactSet Research Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $7,920,000. Finally, Mcdonald Capital Investors Inc. CA bought a new position in shares of FactSet Research Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,320,000. Institutional investors own 91.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of FactSet Research Systems in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Huber Research upgraded shares of FactSet Research Systems from a “strong sell” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. 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 for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Raymond James Financial restated a “market perform” rating on shares of FactSet Research Systems in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $372.00 to $295.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $279.85.

Insider Activity at FactSet Research Systems

In other FactSet Research Systems news, Director Malcolm Frank sold 2,572 shares of FactSet Research Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.70, for a total transaction of $760,540.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $259,920.30. This trade represents a 74.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

FactSet Research Systems Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of FDS opened at $222.91 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $212.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $258.28. The company has a market capitalization of $8.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.54. FactSet Research Systems Inc. has a 1-year low of $185.00 and a 1-year high of $474.79.

FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The business services provider reported $4.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.37 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $611.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $604.78 million. FactSet Research Systems had a net margin of 24.48% and a return on equity of 30.25%. FactSet Research Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that FactSet Research Systems Inc. will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FactSet Research Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. FactSet Research Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.30%.

FactSet Research Systems declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, December 18th that allows the company to buyback $600.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the business services provider to purchase up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.