Watchman Group Inc. Has $4.83 Million Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Watchman Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,715 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 175 shares during the period. Accenture makes up approximately 1.3% of Watchman Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Watchman Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,825,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 391,615 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $137,766,000 after buying an additional 64,282 shares in the last quarter. Allianz SE bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,722,000. Intrust Bank NA lifted its holdings in Accenture by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 6,093 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,143,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp bought a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,521,000. Finally, Maridea Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $209,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Down 1.4 %

Accenture stock opened at $304.32 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market capitalization of $190.61 billion, a PE ratio of 25.53, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $354.96 and its 200 day moving average is $356.03.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their price objective on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on Accenture from $396.00 to $364.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.47, for a total transaction of $340,645.67. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,484 shares in the company, valued at $1,943,913.48. This trade represents a 14.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total transaction of $242,750.30. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 8,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,073,892.12. This represents a 7.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.