Brown Advisory Inc. Sells 17,037 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Brown Advisory Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 232,891 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 17,037 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $62,485,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 36.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 46.9% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $618,000 after buying an additional 660 shares during the period. United Bank lifted its stake in 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 period. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in Accenture by 23.0% in the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 4.2% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. 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 the business's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $169.95 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $181.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $221.68. The company has a market cap of $113.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.92, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $155.82 and a fifty-two week high of $317.30.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its 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. The firm 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%.The company's revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.82 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Accenture's payout ratio is 53.40%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered 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. Mizuho lowered their price target on Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Accenture from $275.00 to $248.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Seventeen investment 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 company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $257.56.

Accenture 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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