Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Values Added Financial LLC

Values Added Financial LLC trimmed its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 822 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 86 shares during the period. Values Added Financial LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $288,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 760 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 9,271 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,847,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 712 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 917 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 866 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $346.10 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.11 billion, a PE ratio of 31.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $369.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $340.38. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $261.68 and a 1 year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. BNP Paribas raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price target (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Mizuho reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 price target (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total value of $2,267,312.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,884,051.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,000 shares of company stock worth $11,146,998. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

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.