Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by KCM Investment Advisors LLC

KCM Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 13.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,450 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,311 shares during the quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,755,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 36.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,486,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 46.9% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $618,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the period. United Bank increased its stake in Accenture by 49.8% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 1,209 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in Accenture by 23.0% in the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 4.2% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ACN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $247.00 to $201.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Truist Financial lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $260.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $199.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $259.89.

Accenture Stock Up 1.4%

ACN stock opened at $169.95 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $113.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $155.82 and a 52 week high of $317.30. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $181.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $221.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.82 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.84 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 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.