Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Stack Financial Management Inc

Stack Financial Management Inc reduced its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 141,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,441 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 5.6% of Stack Financial Management Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Stack Financial Management Inc’s holdings in Accenture were worth $49,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 180.0% in the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in Accenture by 40.3% during the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 167 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded down $1.11 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $307.89. 1,320,327 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,408,539. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $261.68 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The business’s fifty day moving average is $350.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $341.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $206.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Guggenheim started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 price target (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,490 shares of company stock valued at $10,592,664 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.