Legato Capital Management LLC Trims Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Legato Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 45.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,200 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 7,784 shares during the quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Running Oak Capital LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 57,541 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $14,190,000 after purchasing an additional 7,190 shares in the last quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 28.8% in the 3rd quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 160,550 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $39,592,000 after purchasing an additional 35,900 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Accenture by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 282,340 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $75,752,000 after purchasing an additional 61,314 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in Accenture by 180.4% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 404,680 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $99,794,000 after purchasing an additional 260,357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 197.2% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 141,484 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $37,960,000 after purchasing an additional 93,880 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $282.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.50.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related 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 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. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $179.36 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $187.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $228.79. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $155.82 and a twelve month high of $321.77. 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 capitalization of $119.35 billion, a PE ratio of 14.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business earned $2.82 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.40%.

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.