Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Position Cut by Adero Partners LLC

Adero Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 16.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,116 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 225 shares during the quarter. Adero Partners LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $348,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Davidson Trust Co. grew its holdings in Accenture by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $812,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Accenture by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,325,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Alteri Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $321,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 47.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $861,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $317,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $311.37 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $275.01 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $305.50 and a 200-day moving average of $335.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $195.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.12, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company earned $2.77 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 48.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on ACN. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Accenture from $372.00 to $340.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho cut their target price on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays cut their price objective on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price objective (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $382.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the 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 transaction, the general counsel now directly 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.