Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Holdings Trimmed by GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd

GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd trimmed its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,270,949 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 174,658 shares during the period. Accenture makes up approximately 7.2% of GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd owned about 0.20% of Accenture worth $447,107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,551,679 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $901,967,000 after purchasing an additional 363,401 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $377,000. Navellier & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $216,000. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 13.9% in the third quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,060 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $375,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Biltmore Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $215,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays lowered their target price on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Eight research 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $378.23.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total transaction of $242,750.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,674 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,073,892.12. The trade was a 7.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. The trade was a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $2.65 on Thursday, reaching $308.51. 2,870,173 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,764,568. The company has a market capitalization of $193.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.88, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 $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's 50-day moving average is $355.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $356.23.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 48.89%.

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.