Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Position Lessened by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp cut its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 893,679 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 122,590 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Accenture were worth $313,601,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its position in Accenture by 180.0% in the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 167 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:ACN traded down $1.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $307.93. 3,371,677 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,435,283. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $349.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $341.94. The firm has a market cap of $206.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $261.68 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,490 shares of company stock worth $10,592,664. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ACN. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Bank of America lifted their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 price objective (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

Accenture Profile

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.