Townsquare Capital LLC Reduces Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Townsquare Capital LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 58.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,496 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 6,242 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 96.4% in the fourth quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steph & Co. boosted its position in Accenture by 107.5% in the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 110 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $170.76 on Thursday. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $155.82 and a 12-month high of $321.77. The company has a market capitalization of $113.63 billion, a PE ratio of 13.99, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50 day moving average of $182.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $222.79. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.82 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. 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 presently 53.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was 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 directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 target price on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Accenture from $282.00 to $258.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Accenture from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $260.81.

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.