VELA Investment Management LLC Trims Stake in Accenture PLC $ACN

VELA Investment Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 32.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 18,276 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 8,757 shares during the quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,274,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Accenture by 12,316.0% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 116,033,331 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $14,439,188,000 after purchasing an additional 115,098,783 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $2,146,995,000. Flossbach Von Storch SE purchased a new position in Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth $309,873,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Accenture by 120.0% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,482,150 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $690,475,000 after purchasing an additional 1,899,305 shares during the period. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $311,694,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 10,498 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the general counsel directly owned 17,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,890,450.30. The trade was a 37.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $186.53 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $124.57 billion, a PE ratio of 14.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.10. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $118.15 and a fifty-two week high of $291.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.70 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $18.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.78 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 26.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.49 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, June 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 2.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 9th were paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.08%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Accenture from $165.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Accenture from $186.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Accenture from $270.00 to $230.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Accenture from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $194.19.

About Accenture

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.