Saratoga Research & Investment Management Lowers Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

Saratoga Research & Investment Management lowered its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 135,584 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 10,584 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 1.9% of Saratoga Research & Investment Management’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Saratoga Research & Investment Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $36,377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 878 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $236,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Clayton Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 329 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.9% during the third quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. now owns 4,416 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,089,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the second quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,751 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,108,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, IVC Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 927 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.50.

Insider Activity at Accenture

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

Accenture Trading Up 3.0%

Shares of ACN opened at $168.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $190.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $231.32. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $155.82 and a twelve month high of $322.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $112.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.84, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.82 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.