Calamos Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

Calamos Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,975 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,863 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $26,555,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,135,065 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,938,156,000 after purchasing an additional 118,460 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 41.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,128,134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,223,839,000 after purchasing an additional 4,984,930 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,869,199,000 after purchasing an additional 546,198 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 9,615,366 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,371,149,000 after purchasing an additional 790,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,050,483 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,738,649,000 after purchasing an additional 295,762 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Argus decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $295.00 to $253.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.50.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $178.61 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $199.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $237.87. 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 PLC has a 1 year low of $173.84 and a 1 year high of $325.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.86 billion, a PE ratio of 14.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results 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. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The business had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.82 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO Catherine Kiernan Hogan sold 660 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.93, for a total transaction of $185,413.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,564,439.84. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO John F. Walsh sold 3,986 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.38, for a total transaction of $1,101,650.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 27,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,523,339.98. This trade represents a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 14,305 shares of company stock valued at $3,759,847. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.