SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC Invests $813,000 in Accenture PLC $ACN

SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC bought a new stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,029 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $813,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 143,956 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $38,623,000 after buying an additional 1,419 shares during the last quarter. Athena Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $307,000. Agave Capital Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $22,218,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its stake in Accenture by 541,333.3% during the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 16,243 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,358,000 after purchasing an additional 16,240 shares during the period. Finally, Hoxton Planning & Management LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $298,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was 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 available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Accenture from $210.00 to $199.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Oppenheimer set a $201.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $259.89.

Accenture Trading Down 1.6%

NYSE:ACN opened at $167.69 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $155.82 and a 52-week high of $318.62. The company has a market capitalization of $111.59 billion, a PE ratio of 13.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $182.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $222.20.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.82 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 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 paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.40%.

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.