Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Holdings Cut by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp lowered its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,891,128 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,281 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 0.7% of Stifel Financial Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Stifel Financial Corp owned 0.30% of Accenture worth $665,329,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.9% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,796 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $635,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 8.4% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 6,135 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,169,000 after acquiring an additional 474 shares in the last quarter. Arvest Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $18,115,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.5% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 41,175 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $14,555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $377.82.

Accenture Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of ACN stock traded up $4.30 on Wednesday, reaching $288.26. 2,762,320 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,008,715. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $180.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $319.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $348.16. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $275.01 and a 1-year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.77 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,291 shares of company stock valued at $7,880,886 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.