Investment House LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Investment House LLC decreased its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 29.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 59,087 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 24,467 shares during the quarter. Investment House LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $15,853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Running Oak Capital LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 57,541 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $14,190,000 after acquiring an additional 7,190 shares during the last quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 160,550 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $39,592,000 after acquiring an additional 35,900 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in Accenture by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 282,340 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $75,752,000 after acquiring an additional 61,314 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Accenture by 180.4% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 404,680 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $99,794,000 after acquiring an additional 260,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 197.2% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 141,484 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $37,960,000 after acquiring an additional 93,880 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $317.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.50.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $176.47 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $117.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $155.82 and a 1 year high of $322.86. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $188.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $230.14.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.82 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Accenture Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.