Sterling Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Sterling Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 50,348 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 7,052 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $17,712,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $2,351,683,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Accenture by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,283,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $666,495,000. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Accenture by 47.5% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,324,029,000 after buying an additional 1,212,011 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 51,837.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 860,601 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $302,751,000 after buying an additional 858,944 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Accenture Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:ACN traded down $1.21 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $288.58. The stock had a trading volume of 3,273,118 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,008,220. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $334.44 and a 200 day moving average of $351.59. The company has a market capitalization of $180.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.21, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. Accenture plc has a one year low of $275.01 and a one year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $2.77 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,497 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.48, for a total transaction of $885,136.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 28,866 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,232,419.68. This represents a 7.96 % 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, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total value of $242,750.30. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,073,892.12. The trade was a 7.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 27,921 shares of company stock valued at $9,876,619. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on ACN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price objective 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. Eight 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.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $378.23.

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.