Bfsg LLC Decreases Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Bfsg LLC decreased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,918 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 99 shares during the quarter. Bfsg LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,937,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp increased its stake in Accenture by 65.7% in the 4th quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 6,845 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,402,000 after purchasing an additional 2,713 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. Cumberland Partners Ltd boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 64,012 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $20,791,000 after buying an additional 3,652 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,241,000. Finally, Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $310,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock traded down $7.21 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $306.33. 1,240,510 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,391,238. The firm has a market cap of $205.47 billion, a PE ratio of 27.83, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $352.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $342.20. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $261.68 and a 12 month high of $387.51.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Redburn Atlantic upped their target price on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 target price (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,045,053.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 39,833 shares of company stock valued at $13,645,871 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.