Northeast Investment Management Reduces Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Northeast Investment Management decreased its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 47.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 26,608 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 23,596 shares during the quarter. Northeast Investment Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,139,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 36.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,486,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 46.9% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $618,000 after buying an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. United Bank grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 49.8% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,088,000 after buying an additional 1,209 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 23.0% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.2% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 price target on Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.50.

Accenture Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $169.90 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $169.76 and a 1 year high of $325.71. The company has a market capitalization of $113.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $193.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $232.98.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.82 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 53.40%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.