Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Wright Investors Service Inc.

Wright Investors Service Inc. cut its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,462 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 505 shares during the quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,618,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ACN. United Bank increased its position in shares of Accenture by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,969 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Weitz Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 89,400 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $30,148,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168 shares during the last quarter. Fund Management at Engine No. 1 LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter worth $1,805,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,292 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,459,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 104.8% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 441,451 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $148,871,000 after acquiring an additional 225,943 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total transaction of $1,859,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 20,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,553,691.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares in the company, valued at $18,862,494.49. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total value of $1,859,050.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 20,316 shares in the company, valued at $7,553,691.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,750 shares of company stock valued at $14,543,436. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN traded up $2.50 during trading on Thursday, reaching $317.04. 729,750 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,345,647. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $261.68 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $357.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $341.95. The stock has a market cap of $212.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

About Accenture

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.