Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Reduces Stock Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC trimmed its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 94.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,631 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 26,989 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $203,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 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. Peak Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 5,447 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,461,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,751 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,108,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 1,433 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intrua Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 1,442 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $387,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of ACN opened at $176.60 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $118.15 and a 1 year high of $291.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $151.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $183.56. The firm has a market cap of $117.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.10. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.49 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, June 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to purchase up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 52.08%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.98, for a total transaction of $1,710,964.04. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 17,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,890,450.30. This trade represents a 37.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings cut Accenture from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Dbs Bank downgraded Accenture from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $275.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $136.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Evercore set a $180.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $192.96.

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.