Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC Has $818,000 Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC trimmed its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 51.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,049 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,243 shares during the period. Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $818,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 96.2% in the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 692,219 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $185,722,000 after purchasing an additional 339,389 shares during the period. Evelyn Partners Asset Management Ltd grew its holdings in Accenture by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Evelyn Partners Asset Management Ltd now owns 24,428 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,825 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $622,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 17,778 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,770,000 after buying an additional 1,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,997 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,072,000 after buying an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ACN. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $248.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $282.00 to $258.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $259.89.

Accenture Stock Up 1.4%

ACN opened at $169.95 on Friday. 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’s 50-day moving average is $181.79 and its 200 day moving average is $221.83. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $155.82 and a fifty-two week high of $317.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.92, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by 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.