Martingale Asset Management L P Sells 17,543 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Martingale Asset Management L P reduced its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 28.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 44,757 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 17,543 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P’s holdings in Accenture were worth $12,008,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Triumph Capital Management bought a new position in Accenture in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. McMillan Office Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 96.4% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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 transaction of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer 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 filing with the SEC, 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 currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Trading Up 1.4%

NYSE:ACN opened at $169.95 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $181.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $221.83. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $155.82 and a 52 week high of $317.30. 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 stock has a market cap of $113.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.92, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $248.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $295.00 to $253.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $260.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $201.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $259.89.

Accenture Company 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.