Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Holdings Reduced by Norden Group LLC

Norden Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 13.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,483 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,431 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for approximately 0.5% of Norden Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Norden Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Islay Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 30.7% during the 4th quarter. Islay Capital Management LLC now owns 2,134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $749,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the period. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 34,877 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,239,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in Accenture by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 7,003 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,457,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 44,261 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $15,532,000 after purchasing an additional 7,889 shares during the period. Finally, Ledyard National Bank boosted its stake in Accenture by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Ledyard National Bank now owns 28,568 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,025,000 after purchasing an additional 960 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of ACN traded down $1.79 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $301.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,995,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,456,486. The company has a 50 day moving average of $348.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $342.34. The firm has a market cap of $202.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $261.68 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm 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 for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given 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 yield of 1.71%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Redburn Atlantic increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. 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 research report on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Accenture news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at $1,667,866.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,639 shares of company stock worth $10,276,287 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently 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.