Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 28,460 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 384,734 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 28,460 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 3.8% of Tandem Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Tandem Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $103,224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allstate Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 103.4% during the 4th quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 47,119 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,642,000 after acquiring an additional 23,958 shares during the period. MSH Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $230,000. Summitry LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $204,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 31.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,988 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,070,000 after buying an additional 946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $494,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 16th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. HSBC cut their price target on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Accenture from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 6th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.50.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $179.36 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $187.09 and a 200-day moving average of $228.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $119.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $155.82 and a 1 year high of $321.77.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its 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 analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 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.