Note 12 - Common Stock and Earnings Per Share

12 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2014

Earnings Per Share [Abstract]

Earnings Per Share [Text Block]

12. COMMON STOCK AND EARNINGS PER SHARE

On May 5, 2014, FactSet’s Board of Directors approved an 11% increase in the regular quarterly dividend, beginning with the Company’s dividend payment in June 2014 of $0.39 per share, or $1.56 per share per annum.

Shares of common stock outstanding were as follows (in thousands): 

Years Ended August 31,	2014			2013			2012
Balance, beginning of year (September 1)		43,324			44,279			45,055
Common stock issued for employee stock plans		959			2,459			825
Stock issued for acquisition of business		-			-			43
Repurchase of common stock		(2,490	)		(3,414	)		(1,644	)
Balance, end of year (August 31)		41,793			43,324			44,279

A reconciliation of the weighted average shares outstanding used in the basic and diluted earnings per share computations is as follows (in thousands, except per share data):

	Net Income (Numerator)						Weighted Average Common Shares (Denominator)						Per Share Amount
Years Ended August 31,	2014		2013		2012		2014		2013		2012		2014		2013		2012
Basic EPS
Income available to common stockholders	$	211,543	$	198,637	$	188,809		42,436		43,890		44,784	$	4.98	$	4.53	$	4.22
Diluted EPS
Dilutive effect of stock options and restricted stock								534		734		1,026
Income available to common stockholders plus assumed conversions	$	211,543	$	198,637	$	188,809		42,970		44,624		45,810	$	4.92	$	4.45	$	4.12

Dilutive potential common shares consist of stock options and unvested restricted stock. No outstanding stock options were excluded from the fiscal 2014 calculation of diluted earnings per share compared to 6,408 stock options excluded from the fiscal 2013 calculation because their inclusion would have been anti-dilutive. A total of 383,058 stock options were excluded from the fiscal 2012 calculation of diluted earnings per share because their inclusion would have been anti-dilutive.

As of August 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, 380,653, 1,202,685 and 1,710,017, respectively, performance-based stock option grants were excluded from the calculation of diluted earnings per share. Performance-based stock options are omitted from the calculation of diluted earnings per share until the performance criteria have been met.