Boston Research & Management Inc. Sells 51 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Boston Research & Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,539 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 51 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.6% of Boston Research & Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Boston Research & Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,521,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,394,657 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $21,246,236,000 after acquiring an additional 392,183 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,400,836 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,685,648,000 after buying an additional 471,792 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Accenture by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,283,225,000 after buying an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $2,351,683,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,964,480 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,746,455,000 after acquiring an additional 140,726 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.48, for a total value of $885,136.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 28,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,232,419.68. This represents a 7.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,278,431.38. This represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 1.4 %

ACN stock opened at $304.32 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $354.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $356.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.61 billion, a PE ratio of 25.53, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.77 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wolfe Research upgraded Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.23.

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.