Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Compass Capital Management Inc.

Compass Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 180,204 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 9,217 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 4.2% of Compass Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Compass Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $63,394,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 63,429 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $22,314,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883 shares in the last quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 78.6% in the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,047,000 after acquiring an additional 5,038 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,040,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 70.6% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,581,000 after acquiring an additional 14,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G PLC lifted its position in Accenture by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $103,361,000 after acquiring an additional 74,438 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $385.62 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $359.56 and a 200-day moving average of $350.23. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market cap of $241.32 billion, a PE ratio of 32.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.27 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total value of $242,750.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,073,892.12. This represents a 7.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,255 shares of company stock valued at $4,756,101 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ACN shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.22.

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.