Signet Financial Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Signet Financial Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 59.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,500 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,637 shares during the quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $877,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brave Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC increased its position in Accenture by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 760 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp increased its position in Accenture by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 1,245 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in Accenture by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 6,062 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,127,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jag Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 9,271 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,847,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total value of $1,859,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 20,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,553,691.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total value of $1,859,050.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 20,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,553,691.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,000 shares of company stock worth $11,146,998. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price target (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Up 0.2 %

ACN stock opened at $313.94 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $358.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $342.14. The company has a market capitalization of $210.57 billion, a PE ratio of 28.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

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.