Bell Asset Management Ltd cut its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 40.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,554 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 14,531 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 1.4% of Bell Asset Management Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Bell Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Accenture were worth $7,582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,866,000. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Accenture in the third quarter worth $25,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 28.8% during the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $11,300,000 after purchasing an additional 7,151 shares during the period. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth about $550,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 37.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 253 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Guggenheim dropped their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Eight 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $378.23.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Accenture
Accenture Trading Down 0.6 %
NYSE ACN traded down $1.68 on Friday, hitting $283.54. 5,017,701 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,010,801. The company's 50-day moving average price is $336.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $352.03. The company has a market capitalization of $177.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $275.01 and a 52-week high of $398.35. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.
Accenture Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.89%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total transaction of $242,750.30. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 8,674 shares in the company, valued at $3,073,892.12. This represents a 7.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,247 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,278,431.38. This represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.
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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