Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Cuts Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC trimmed its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,271 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 7,790 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $11,233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $6,486,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 46.9% in 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 in the last quarter. United Bank increased its holdings 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 last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in shares of Accenture by 23.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total value of $1,710,964.04. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 17,735 shares in the company, valued at $2,890,450.30. This trade represents a 37.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen lowered 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 report on Monday, June 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 19th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Accenture from $275.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Accenture from $177.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Accenture from $210.00 to $185.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 15th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $192.96.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $175.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.09. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $118.15 and a 1-year high of $291.09. The company’s 50-day moving average is $151.64 and its 200 day moving average is $187.15.

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

Accenture declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, June 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 2.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th will be given a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 52.08%.

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.