Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC

Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 54.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,979 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,547 shares during the quarter. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $799,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Investors Research Corp lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 73.8% in the 3rd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 106 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 132.6% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 107 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Davis Capital Management purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on ACN. TD Cowen lowered 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. boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Accenture from $251.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.88.

Accenture Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of ACN stock opened at $196.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $131.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.27. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $187.00 and a 1 year high of $325.71. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $220.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $243.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.23, for a total value of $1,461,130.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,679,963.65. This represents a 28.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Catherine Kiernan Hogan sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.93, for a total transaction of $185,413.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 12,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,564,439.84. This trade represents a 4.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,088 shares of company stock worth $5,970,434. 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.