FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) Price Target Cut to $253.00 by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) had its price objective cut by The Goldman Sachs Group from $282.00 to $253.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a sell rating on the business services provider’s stock.

FDS has been the topic of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of FactSet Research Systems in a research note on Monday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on FactSet Research Systems from $452.00 to $324.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Rothschild Redb raised shares of FactSet Research Systems from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of FactSet Research Systems from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of FactSet Research Systems from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $415.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Friday, September 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $314.75.

FactSet Research Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FDS opened at $288.68 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $279.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $347.82. FactSet Research Systems has a 52-week low of $250.50 and a 52-week high of $493.00. The company has a market cap of $10.80 billion, a PE ratio of 18.36, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

FactSet Research Systems (NYSE:FDS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 18th. The business services provider reported $4.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.36 by $0.15. FactSet Research Systems had a net margin of 25.40% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The firm had revenue of $607.62 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $599.69 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.37 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. FactSet Research Systems has set its FY 2026 guidance at 16.900-17.600 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that FactSet Research Systems will post 17.21 EPS for the current year.

FactSet Research Systems announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, December 18th that permits the company to buyback $600.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to reacquire up to 5.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

FactSet Research Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 28th were paid a dividend of $1.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 28th. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. FactSet Research Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Christopher Mcloughlin bought 338 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $296.19 per share, for a total transaction of $100,112.22. Following the purchase, the insider owned 3,446 shares in the company, valued at $1,020,670.74. This represents a 10.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Goran Skoko bought 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $252.93 per share, with a total value of $126,465.00. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president directly owned 9,192 shares in the company, valued at $2,324,932.56. This trade represents a 5.75% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders bought a total of 1,208 shares of company stock worth $328,505 over the last three months. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FactSet Research Systems

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Truist Financial Corp raised its position in FactSet Research Systems by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 22,313 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $9,980,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 8.8% during the second quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 125,526 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,145,000 after buying an additional 10,172 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 8.8% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 380,459 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $170,172,000 after buying an additional 30,881 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 14,690 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,569,000 after acquiring an additional 1,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J. W. Coons Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of FactSet Research Systems by 139.8% during the 2nd quarter. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC now owns 3,465 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,550,000 after acquiring an additional 2,020 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.24% of the company’s stock.

FactSet Research Systems News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting FactSet Research Systems this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results beat expectations — FactSet reported $4.51 EPS vs. consensus ~$4.36 and revenue of $607.6M, driven by subscription/organic growth; this is the primary bullish catalyst. FactSet Reports Results for First Quarter Fiscal 2026
• Positive Sentiment: Board authorized a $600M share repurchase (up to ~5.4% of shares), signaling management believes shares are undervalued and supporting buyback-driven EPS accretion. RTT News
• Positive Sentiment: Some broker actions are constructive — Morgan Stanley upgraded FactSet (coverage note widely cited), and there was unusually high call‑option volume that suggests bullish speculative interest. Morgan Stanley upgrade (MSN) Options flow (AmericanBankingNews)
• Neutral Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating with a $320 target (implies upside vs. current price but no change in stance). Benzinga
• Neutral Sentiment: Company published earnings call transcript and slide deck for investors; useful detail but unlikely to move price by itself. Earnings call transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Goldman Sachs cut the price target to $253 and moved to a “sell” rating—this is a material bearish signal and likely a headwind for the stock. Benzinga
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel lowered its target from $372 to $295 and set a “hold” — another analyst downgrade that reduces upward momentum. Benzinga
• Negative Sentiment: FY2026 EPS guidance (16.90–17.60) was slightly below consensus (~17.33), which helps explain some selling pressure despite the beat — investors are focused on the full‑year outlook. Zacks

FactSet Research Systems Company Profile

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.