FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,310 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 298 shares during the period. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,945,673,000 after purchasing an additional 184,541 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Accenture by 7.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,388,856,000 after buying an additional 720,647 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Accenture by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,479,430 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,975,517,000 after acquiring an additional 159,696 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $2,061,490,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,466,684 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,556,676,000 after acquiring an additional 68,635 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total value of $1,422,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 42,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,518,796. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total value of $1,422,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,781 shares in the company, valued at $13,518,796. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on ACN. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $409.00 to $295.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $352.74.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $1.92 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $305.75. 1,751,215 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,312,141. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $191.61 billion, a PE ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $299.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $335.28.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

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.