Accenture PLC $ACN Stock Holdings Lessened by Yousif Capital Management LLC

Yousif Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 71,803 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,639 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $19,581,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Running Oak Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $14,190,000 after buying an additional 7,190 shares during the last quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 35,900 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in Accenture by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 258,599 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $63,771,000 after purchasing an additional 38,325 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 260,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 25.5% in the 3rd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 22,401 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,524,000 after purchasing an additional 4,552 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. HSBC upgraded shares of Accenture from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $274.88.

Accenture Stock Down 0.8%

Accenture stock opened at $197.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $131.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.16, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $214.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $242.61. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $187.00 and a 52 week high of $325.71.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion for 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%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.82 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.40%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Manish Sharma sold 2,731 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.13, for a total value of $786,883.03. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,033,333.41. The trade was a 27.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO John F. Walsh sold 3,986 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.38, for a total transaction of $1,101,650.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 27,221 shares in the company, valued at $7,523,339.98. This represents a 12.77% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 20,256 shares of company stock worth $5,464,134 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Accenture

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.