Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. Decreases Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. cut its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,079 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 765 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 1.8% of Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $382.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 2.1%

Accenture stock opened at $311.37 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.12, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $275.01 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $305.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $335.77.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.77 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid 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 yield of 1.90%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.89%.

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.