Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC Sells 3,243 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC lowered its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 51.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,049 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,243 shares during the period. Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $818,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. McMillan Office Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 1.4%

ACN opened at $169.95 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $155.82 and a twelve month high of $317.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a fifty day moving average of $181.79 and a 200-day moving average of $221.83. The stock has a market cap of $113.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.82 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 13.84 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. 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 53.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Oppenheimer set a $201.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Monday, June 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $282.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. 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.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $259.89.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction 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 represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.