Meridian Wealth Management LLC Buys New Position in FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 698 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 16.7% during the first quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 700 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in FactSet Research Systems by 53.1% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 744 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 225.1% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 2,344 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,065,000 after acquiring an additional 1,623 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp grew its stake in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 3.0% during the first quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 28,646 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,016,000 after acquiring an additional 828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Comerica Bank increased its position in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 4.8% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 15,083 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,853,000 after acquiring an additional 697 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FDS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on FactSet Research Systems from $485.00 to $525.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of FactSet Research Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $420.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $451.00 to $469.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of FactSet Research Systems from $435.00 to $503.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of FactSet Research Systems in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “inline” rating and a $470.00 target price for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $450.00.

FactSet Research Systems Stock Performance

Shares of FDS stock opened at $490.89 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business has a 50 day moving average of $466.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $435.99. The company has a market cap of $18.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.32, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.75. FactSet Research Systems Inc. has a 52 week low of $391.84 and a 52 week high of $499.87.

FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 19th. The business services provider reported $3.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $562.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $547.06 million. FactSet Research Systems had a return on equity of 34.77% and a net margin of 24.38%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that FactSet Research Systems Inc. will post 17.2 EPS for the current year.

FactSet Research Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $1.04 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $4.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. FactSet Research Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at FactSet Research Systems

In other news, CEO Frederick Philip Snow sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $455.09, for a total value of $1,365,270.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 12,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,910,253.83. This represents a 18.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Costigan sold 1,622 shares of FactSet Research Systems stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $481.00, for a total transaction of $780,182.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 299 shares in the company, valued at approximately $143,819. This represents a 84.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,984 shares of company stock valued at $12,230,877 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.