Barclays PLC Trims Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Barclays PLC cut its Accenture stake by 17% in the fourth quarter, selling 283,468 shares and leaving it with 1.38 million shares valued at about $371.4 million.
• Accenture’s stock has faced mixed analyst sentiment, with recent target-price cuts from several firms, though the overall consensus remains a "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $257.56.
• The company reported solid recent results and pays a dividend, beating quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, while also issuing a $1.63 quarterly dividend that implies a 3.8% yield.

Barclays PLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 17.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,384,267 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 283,468 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned about 0.22% of Accenture worth $371,399,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. McMillan Office Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 96.4% during the fourth quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 108 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 target price on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Oppenheimer set a $201.00 target price on Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Accenture from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Truist Financial lowered Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $260.00 to $210.00 in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their target price on Accenture from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $257.56.

Accenture Stock Down 0.2%

ACN stock opened at $169.95 on Monday. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $155.82 and a fifty-two week high of $317.30. The business's 50 day moving average price is $181.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $221.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $113.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion for 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%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.82 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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.

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