Cerity Partners LLC Has $102.42 Million Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Cerity Partners LLC lessened its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 290,943 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 13,158 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $102,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,866,000. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at $25,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 28.8% during the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $11,300,000 after purchasing an additional 7,151 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth $550,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its position in 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Accenture from $396.00 to $364.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. 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 research report on Monday, March 17th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $378.23.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,516,610.90. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. This represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $1.68 during trading on Friday, reaching $283.54. The company had a trading volume of 5,017,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,010,801. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $275.01 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.59 billion, a PE ratio of 23.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The firm's fifty day moving average is $336.60 and its 200 day moving average is $352.03.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (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 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 company earned $2.77 earnings per share. Accenture's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

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.