Accenture PLC $ACN Holdings Trimmed by Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lowered its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 185,964 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 11,316 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $49,894,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of ACN. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Accenture by 41.1% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,128,134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,223,839,000 after buying an additional 4,984,930 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $311,694,000. Capital World Investors acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $268,578,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 85.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,041,945 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $503,544,000 after purchasing an additional 943,371 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 268.3% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,252,334 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $308,826,000 after purchasing an additional 912,348 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 4.9%

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $177.16 on Tuesday. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $155.82 and a 1 year high of $322.86. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $189.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.64. 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 has a market cap of $117.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The company had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.82 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Accenture from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. HSBC decreased their price target on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company 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.