Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Sells 27,854 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Key Points

• Pittenger & Anderson Inc. cut its stake in Accenture (NYSE:ACN) by 72.1%, selling 27,854 shares in Q4 and leaving 10,802 shares valued at $2.898 million.
• Company insiders have been selling recently — CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares at an average $177.14 and Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares at an average $241.23 — with insiders offloading 10,943 shares (~$2.33M) over the last 90 days and owning only 0.02% of the stock.
• Sell-side analysts maintain a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $274.50; Accenture also beat quarterly estimates (EPS $2.93 vs. $2.84; revenue $18.04B) and announced a $1.63 quarterly dividend (3.6% yield).

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. decreased its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 72.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,802 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 27,854 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 878 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $236,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Clayton Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 329 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. grew its holdings in Accenture by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. now owns 4,416 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,089,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,751 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,108,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IVC Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 927 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $249,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ACN. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. HSBC cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $274.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the firm's 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 directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.23, for a total value of $1,461,130.11. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,255 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,679,963.65. This represents a 28.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,943 shares of company stock valued at $2,327,545. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Trading Up 0.1%

ACN stock opened at $179.96 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $196.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $235.78. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $173.65 and a fifty-two week high of $325.71. 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 firm has a market cap of $119.75 billion, a PE ratio of 14.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.82 earnings per share. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.

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