Avity Investment Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Avity Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 95.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,337 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 75,955 shares during the quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $415,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of several research reports. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on Accenture from $186.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $210.00 to $185.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 15th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $258.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total transaction of $1,710,964.04. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 17,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,890,450.30. This represents a 37.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $175.49 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $118.15 and a 52 week high of $291.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $117.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $151.64 and a 200-day moving average of $187.15.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by $0.10. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The business had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.49 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.08%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 23rd that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to buy up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.