Macquarie Group Ltd. Cuts Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Macquarie Group Ltd. cut its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 63.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 223,081 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 393,746 shares during the quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $59,812,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. McMillan Office Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 96.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale 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 company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Accenture from $210.00 to $199.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. HSBC dropped their target price on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 16th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Accenture from $282.00 to $258.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $259.89.

Accenture Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $169.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a fifty day moving average of $181.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $221.83. The stock has a market cap of $113.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.92, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $155.82 and a 52-week high of $317.30.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The company had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.82 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

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.