Plancorp LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Plancorp LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 75.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,226 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,683 shares during the quarter. Plancorp LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $329,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 96.4% during the 4th quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steph & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 107.5% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 110 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ACN. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 target price on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 16th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Berenberg Bank initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $313.00 price target on the stock. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.50.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock opened at $164.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.43, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $155.82 and a 1 year high of $324.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $191.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $231.76.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.82 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.40%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.