Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,330 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,320 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 1.0% of Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,097,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA grew its stake in Accenture by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 63,429 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $22,314,000 after buying an additional 3,883 shares during the last quarter. Davidson Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $812,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 126.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 40,051 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $14,090,000 after purchasing an additional 22,391 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Accenture by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,094 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the period. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 127.1% in the 4th quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $817,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Insider Activity
In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total value of $91,514.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,041 shares of company stock valued at $5,254,956 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Baird R W raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $377.82.
Get Our Latest Report on ACN
Accenture Price Performance
Shares of ACN traded up $2.22 on Friday, hitting $293.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,919,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,002,392. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $316.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $347.25. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $275.01 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The company has a market capitalization of $183.91 billion, a PE ratio of 24.63, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.77 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Accenture Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Accenture's payout ratio is 48.89%.
About Accenture
(
Free Report)
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.
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