Councilmark Asset Management LLC Acquires Shares of 8,502 Accenture PLC $ACN

Councilmark Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 8,502 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,058,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 197.2% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 141,484 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $37,960,000 after buying an additional 93,880 shares in the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Accenture by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 335,314 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $89,965,000 after purchasing an additional 36,037 shares in the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 74,187 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $9,232,000 after acquiring an additional 7,018 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 287.0% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 1,307,722 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $350,862,000 after buying an additional 969,792 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC increased its position in Accenture by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 183,287 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $49,176,000 after purchasing an additional 28,189 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total transaction of $1,710,964.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 17,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,890,450.30. The trade was a 37.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $253.00 to $175.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Dbs Bank cut shares of Accenture from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $225.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Oppenheimer set a $201.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Berenberg Bank lowered their target price on Accenture from $273.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $193.33.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $186.97 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $124.86 billion, a PE ratio of 14.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.09. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $118.15 and a fifty-two week high of $291.09. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $152.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.47% and a net margin of 10.66%.Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.49 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 23rd that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 52.08%.

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.