Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by M&T Bank Corp

M&T Bank Corp cut its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 257,384 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 9,855 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Accenture were worth $90,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 180.0% during the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN traded up $3.37 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $303.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,767,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,150,080. The business’s 50-day moving average is $342.95 and its 200-day moving average is $341.73. The stock has a market cap of $203.71 billion, a PE ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $261.68 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect 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 given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, 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, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value 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 approximately $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price objective for the company. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Accenture Company 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.