Anchor Investment Management LLC Sells 2,666 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Anchor Investment Management LLC cut its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 43.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,469 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 2,666 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $1,220,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,351,683,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,283,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $666,495,000. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Accenture by 47.5% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,324,029,000 after buying an additional 1,212,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 51,837.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 860,601 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $302,751,000 after buying an additional 858,944 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. This represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,778 shares of company stock worth $8,408,087. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of ACN stock traded down $2.96 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $282.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,320,335 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,007,591. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $275.01 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $326.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $349.73. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $176.80 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.77 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Mizuho cut their price target on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $377.82.

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.