Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Stevens Capital Management LP

Stevens Capital Management LP reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 32.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,478 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 2,618 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 0.8% of Stevens Capital Management LP's portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Stevens Capital Management LP's holdings in Accenture were worth $1,927,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 63,429 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $22,314,000 after acquiring an additional 3,883 shares during the period. Davidson Trust Co. increased its stake in Accenture by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $812,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 126.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 40,051 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $14,090,000 after buying an additional 22,391 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,094 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,088,000 after buying an additional 843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its position in Accenture by 127.1% in the 4th quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 8,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $378.23.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $2.65 during trading on Thursday, reaching $308.51. The company had a trading volume of 2,870,173 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,764,568. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.06 billion, a PE ratio of 25.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $355.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $356.23.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the firm earned $2.77 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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