Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lessened its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 33.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,159 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 21,239 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in Accenture were worth $14,831,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $182,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. now owns 655 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $147,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 725 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Baird R W raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Accenture from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $377.82.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN traded up $3.27 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $291.43. The company had a trading volume of 3,269,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,009,764. The business has a 50-day moving average of $319.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $348.16. The company has a market cap of $182.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.77 EPS. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company 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 is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 19,791 shares of company stock worth $6,978,161. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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.