Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Cary Street Partners Financial LLC

Cary Street Partners Financial LLC lessened its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 13.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,369 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,932,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $6,486,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 46.9% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $618,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares in the last quarter. United Bank raised its holdings in Accenture by 49.8% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,088,000 after acquiring an additional 1,209 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in Accenture by 23.0% in the second 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 Accenture by 4.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. TD Cowen reduced their price objective 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. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. HSBC cut their price target on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Guggenheim decreased their price target on Accenture from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $177.52 on Wednesday. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $155.82 and a 12 month high of $321.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 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. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $186.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $227.71.

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. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.82 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Accenture Company 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.