Princeton Global Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Princeton Global Asset Management LLC reduced its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,230 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 295 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 1.3% of Princeton Global Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Telos Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,664 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,696,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 29,326.4% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 233,940 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 233,145 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,510,805 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $531,486,000 after buying an additional 19,292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 112,398 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $39,540,000 after buying an additional 3,886 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $382.14.

Accenture Trading Up 0.7%

ACN stock opened at $317.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $275.01 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $303.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $337.25. The company has a market capitalization of $198.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,857,041.86. This represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.