Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Holdings Cut by US Asset Management LLC

US Asset Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,726 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 105 shares during the quarter. US Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $607,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,394,657 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $21,246,236,000 after acquiring an additional 392,183 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,528,348 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,750,021,000 after purchasing an additional 136,665 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,283,225,000 after buying an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,994,922,000 after buying an additional 181,449 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE ACN opened at $316.22 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $302.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $340.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $275.01 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The stock has a market cap of $198.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.53, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.77 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 48.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $382.14.

About Accenture

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.