Argent Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Argent Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,141 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,628 shares during the quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $28,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. RMR Wealth Builders grew its position in shares of Accenture by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 5,437 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,913,000 after buying an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Essex Savings Bank boosted its position in Accenture by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 4,807 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,691,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc raised its stake in Accenture by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 15,043 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,292,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Websterrogers Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $240,000. Finally, Burney Co. raised its stake in Accenture by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 20,953 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,371,000 after buying an additional 1,414 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,125 shares of company stock valued at $9,570,260 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.04.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $349.45 on Thursday. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $218.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $357.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $344.94.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.27 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.74 EPS for the current year.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

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.