Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stake Cut by Sachetta LLC

Sachetta LLC decreased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,115 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 91 shares during the period. Sachetta LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,448,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Accenture by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 558 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $196,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its position in Accenture by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. CX Institutional now owns 21,121 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,430,000 after acquiring an additional 2,281 shares in the last quarter. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Encompass More Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 26.1% in the 4th quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 958 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ACN opened at $362.65 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $226.94 billion, a PE ratio of 30.42, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $357.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $346.86.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.27 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.66%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total transaction of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 40.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,332 shares of company stock valued at $6,172,719 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on ACN. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.74.

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.