Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. Sells 5,630 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. cut its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 76,620 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 5,630 shares during the period. Accenture comprises 2.2% of Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $26,954,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. One Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 536.6% during the 2nd quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 6,672 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 5,624 shares during the period. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 1.3% during the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 27,632 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $8,384,000 after buying an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in Accenture during the second quarter valued at $1,524,000. Finally, Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 103,798 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $31,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ACN. Wolfe Research raised Accenture from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $385.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,102,817. The trade was a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,649,265.25. The trade was a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,507,099. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $5.20 on Wednesday, reaching $354.19. The company had a trading volume of 117,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,329,090. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.65 billion, a PE ratio of 30.99, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $357.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $344.94.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.27 EPS. The company's revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.

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