Quantbot Technologies LP Lowers Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Quantbot Technologies LP trimmed its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 67.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,120 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 12,504 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP's holdings in Accenture were worth $2,153,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in 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 valued at $182,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Tradition Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,871,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. now owns 655 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $230,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, TCW Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 11,501 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,065,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $396.00 to $364.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $378.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 961 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.47, for a total transaction of $340,645.67. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,484 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,943,913.48. The trade was a 14.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,497 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.48, for a total value of $885,136.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 28,866 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,232,419.68. This represents a 7.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock traded down $2.65 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $308.51. 2,870,173 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,766,682. The firm has a market capitalization of $193.06 billion, a PE ratio of 25.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $356.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $356.56. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $398.35.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Accenture 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.