Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Diversify Advisory Services LLC

Diversify Advisory Services LLC trimmed its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 14.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,592 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,297 shares during the quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 378.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,941,219,000 after acquiring an additional 4,345,039 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 44.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Accenture by 251.3% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $302,165,000 after purchasing an additional 712,400 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Accenture by 2,666.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 715,219 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $251,607,000 after purchasing an additional 689,366 shares during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $204,895,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5 %

ACN opened at $352.33 on Monday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $357.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $345.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. Accenture’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.27 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.66%.

Accenture announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Wolfe Research raised Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.04.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total value of $1,757,357.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,500,430.72. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,125 shares of company stock worth $6,184,820 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.