Summit Global Investments Sells 6,169 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Summit Global Investments lowered its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 51.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,735 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 6,169 shares during the quarter. Summit Global Investments' holdings in Accenture were worth $2,017,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Accenture by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,400,836 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $9,685,648,000 after acquiring an additional 471,792 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 378.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,941,219,000 after purchasing an additional 4,345,039 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,964,480 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,746,455,000 after purchasing an additional 140,726 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,790,069 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,353,909,000 after buying an additional 826,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted 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 worth $1,324,029,000 after buying an additional 1,212,011 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Accenture Trading Down 0.9 %

ACN stock traded down $2.65 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $308.51. 2,870,173 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,766,683. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The stock's fifty day moving average is $356.77 and its 200-day moving average is $356.56. The company has a market cap of $193.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued 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 net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.77 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada cut 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $396.00 to $364.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Eight investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.