Accenture PLC $ACN Holdings Lowered by Metis Global Partners LLC

Metis Global Partners LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 15.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,449 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 5,577 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $8,169,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,486,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 46.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $618,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. United Bank boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 49.8% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,088,000 after acquiring an additional 1,209 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 23.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ACN. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Accenture from $282.00 to $258.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. HSBC decreased their target price on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 target price on Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 1st. Seventeen research 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 stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $260.81.

Accenture Stock Down 1.6%

ACN stock opened at $170.76 on Thursday. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $155.82 and a 52-week high of $321.77. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $222.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The business had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.