FactSet Research stock holds near $300 as guidance and dividend support 2026 valuation

FactSet Research Systems Inc. (US3030751057) stock is quoted close to $300 per share as of August 24, 2026, with recent market coverage citing specific prints at $299.26 and $299.80 that frame the current valuation debate for the financial data provider.

Recent same-month analysis highlighted that a share price of $299.80 corresponded to a forward price-to-earnings multiple of 15.7, signaling a mid-teens valuation that investors are weighing against FactSet’s earnings guidance and dividend profile in 2026. This valuation metric has become central to how the market interprets the stock at present.

Within this framework, FactSet’s own guidance for fiscal 2026 earnings per share and its board-approved dividend rate provide the key fundamentals behind the share price, giving investors concrete numbers for both growth expectations and cash returns.

Guidance and recent earnings underpin the share price

Per a recent institutional-investor filing summary that recapped the latest quarterly report, FactSet reported adjusted earnings per share of $4.53 for its most recent quarter, with revenue of $622.92 million over that same period.

That quarterly revenue level represented a 6.4 percent increase compared to the same quarter a year earlier, while the EPS figure modestly exceeded the consensus expectation of $4.44 cited in that coverage. The combination of mid-single-digit revenue growth and a small earnings beat frames the underlying operating momentum for fiscal 2026.

In the same report, FactSet’s management outlined fiscal 2026 guidance in the form of an EPS range of $17.25 to $17.75, giving investors a band for projected annual profitability rather than a single-point forecast. This guidance range anchors many of the valuation calculations now appearing in market commentary.

An institutional-ownership article noted that FactSet’s latest quarter also featured a return on equity of 30.68 percent and a net margin of 23.21 percent, metrics that reflect a business model capable of converting revenue growth into substantial shareholder returns.

Those profitability figures help explain why the company’s earnings guidance carries weight: a net margin above 20 percent and a return on equity above 30 percent suggest that incremental revenue gains can translate efficiently into bottom-line earnings, supporting the EPS range management has set out for fiscal 2026.

Dividend policy and yield add to the equity story

The same coverage of FactSet’s fundamentals reported that the company’s board recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.16 per share, with an ex-dividend date of August 31, 2026 and a scheduled payment date of September 17, 2026.

Annualized, the $1.16 quarterly payout comes to $4.64 per share in cash dividends, which was calculated as a 1.6 percent yield using the prevailing share price level at the time of publication.

The article also set FactSet’s dividend payout ratio at 30.57 percent, indicating that less than one-third of earnings are being returned to shareholders in the form of dividends, with the remaining two-thirds retained to support growth, balance sheet strength, or other corporate uses.

For investors, that combination of a modest but dependable dividend yield and a payout ratio around 30 percent often suggests room both for future dividend increases and for continued reinvestment in the business, particularly given the firm’s high return-on-equity figure.

Because FactSet’s forward P/E multiple of 15.7 is derived from its earnings projections at a share price just under $300, the $4.64 annualized dividend effectively represents a cash return that is supported by the company’s guided earnings capacity rather than relying on historical profit levels from earlier years.

Valuation context: forward P/E and implied earnings

A same-day financials overview in August 2026 cited a FactSet share price of $299.80 and explicitly translated that into a forward P/E ratio of 15.7, making the stock’s valuation easy to compare against peers in the financial-technology and information-services space.

By dividing the $299.80 share price by the 15.7 forward multiple, that report arrived at projected annual earnings of roughly $19.10 per share for the near-term period, a figure that sits somewhat above the company’s own guided EPS range of $17.25 to $17.75 for fiscal 2026.

This difference between the implied earnings number of roughly $19.10 and the top end of management’s stated guidance suggests that at least some market forecasts are more optimistic than the company’s formal EPS range, or that the forward multiple used in the calculation incorporates a different earnings base than the fiscal 2026 guidance.

From an investor’s perspective, the forward P/E metric of 15.7 at a share price just under $300 means the market is willing to pay just over fifteen times projected earnings for FactSet’s combination of data products, analytics tools, and client relationships.

That multiple is neither extremely high nor especially low relative to many established financial-information providers, reinforcing the interpretation that the stock currently trades at a premium supported by its profitability metrics and resilient cash flows but not at a level that would require hypergrowth to justify.

Recent trading levels and consensus view

In transaction-focused coverage of shareholder movements, FactSet shares were reported to have opened at $299.26 on August 24, 2026, a print described as 0.2 percent lower than the prior close, placing the share effectively flat on the day within its prevailing trading range.

The same institutional-investor article reiterated that the stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker FDS, with intraday prices on August 24, 2026 clustering close to the $300 mark and including the specific referenced levels of $299.26 and $299.80.

Within that trading context, consensus data summarized in the institutional coverage showed an average analyst rating of Reduce on the shares, alongside a consensus price target of $253, which sits below the recent share price near $300.

This gap between the $253 consensus target and a spot price around $299.80 implies that many analysts see limited upside or modest downside relative to current levels, a stance that aligns with the Reduce rating and a valuation conclusion that the stock is trading above what those analysts consider its central fair-value estimate.

Even so, the company’s guidance range and earnings beat in the latest quarter suggest that the fundamental picture remains solid, which may help explain why the stock price itself has held in the vicinity of $300 despite the cautious tone embedded in consensus ratings.

FactSet’s core product: integrated data and analytics

FactSet Research Systems Inc. is best known for its integrated financial data and analytics platform, which combines market data, fundamental company information, and portfolio analytics into tools used by asset managers, investment banks, and other institutional clients.

The company’s core offering allows clients to screen securities, construct and test investment portfolios, monitor risk, and generate research output all within a unified interface, making the platform central to many firms’ front-office and research workflows.

Because the service is typically sold on a subscription basis, FactSet’s revenue tends to be recurring, with incremental growth often coming from client-seat expansions, new modules, and broader adoption of its analytics across different divisions of the same institution.

This subscription and analytic-tool model helps explain the firm’s high net margin and strong return on equity, as incremental revenue from additional users or features can be added with relatively modest marginal costs compared to the upfront investment in building and maintaining the data infrastructure.

FactSet stock on the NYSE and current price context

FactSet Research Systems Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker FDS, with recent intraday prices on August 24, 2026 cited at $299.26 and $299.80 as representative levels in current market coverage.

Those prints place the shares close to the $300 mark, and with the forward P/E multiple cited at 15.7, investors can frame the current valuation using both the company’s guided EPS range and the implied earnings projected from that multiple.

Fact box

Company: FactSet Research Systems Inc.

ISIN: US3030751057

Ticker: FDS

Exchange: New York Stock Exchange

Sector / Industry: Financial data and analytics services

Index membership: S&P 500