Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Provident Trust Co.

Provident Trust Co. cut its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 25.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 987,533 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 345,122 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 2.6% of Provident Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Provident Trust Co.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $122,889,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 36.2% in the 4th 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 holdings in shares of Accenture by 46.9% during the second 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 raised its position in shares of Accenture by 49.8% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,088,000 after buying an additional 1,209 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 23.0% in the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its position 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.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other 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 transaction of $1,710,964.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 17,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,890,450.30. This represents a 37.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ACN. Evercore set a $180.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Accenture from $270.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 18th. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price objective on Accenture from $180.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $136.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $194.19.

Accenture Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $189.58 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $155.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $178.32. The company has a market capitalization of $126.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $118.15 and a 1 year high of $291.09.

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

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 52.08%.

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.