Sentry Investment Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,307 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 355 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,160,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Bison Wealth LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,292 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,857,000 after buying an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC now owns 1,764 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $619,000 after buying an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 28.9% in the 4th quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 4,628 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,624,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 44,998 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $15,790,000 after acquiring an additional 1,013 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Drake & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 38.4% in the 4th quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 2,185 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $767,000 after acquiring an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,146,998. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $1.16 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $314.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,779,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,338,002. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $360.55 and a 200-day moving average of $342.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.62, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $261.68 and a 12-month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The company’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

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.