Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Reduces Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 90.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,865 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 26,295 shares during the quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,330,000. National Pension Service lifted its position in Accenture by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,410,982 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $378,566,000 after acquiring an additional 66,242 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. Rothschild Investment LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 126.6% during the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 2,542 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $682,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Okasan Asset Management Co.Ltd. acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $705,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $196.54 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $185.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $226.05. The stock has a market cap of $130.79 billion, a PE ratio of 16.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.09. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $155.82 and a 1 year high of $321.77. 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 (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%.Accenture's revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.82 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 53.40%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. HSBC decreased their price objective on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Accenture from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $271.81.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related 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 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 approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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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