Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Trims Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. reduced its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,931,145 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 50,589 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $669,354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 180.0% in the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Annapolis Financial Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 507.7% during the 1st quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC now owns 79 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Ables Iannone Moore & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 214.8% in the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 85 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now 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 SEC, which is available at this link. In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,705,516.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,083 shares of company stock worth $6,302,285. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Piper Sandler Companies cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Accenture from $398.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Barclays dropped their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Wedbush reduced their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.74.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN traded up $1.58 on Wednesday, reaching $305.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 240,335 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,887,882. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The business’s 50 day moving average is $299.86 and its 200 day moving average is $335.76. The stock has a market cap of $191.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The company had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.19 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 47.25%.

Accenture Company 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.