Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Private Management Group Inc.

Private Management Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 957 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 60 shares during the quarter. Private Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $336,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 40.3% in the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 167 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,705,516.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total transaction of $1,859,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 20,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,553,691.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 39,833 shares of company stock valued at $13,645,871. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price 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. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 target price (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. BNP Paribas raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $3.29 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $313.54. 4,125,459 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,390,122. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $353.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $342.40. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $210.30 billion, a PE ratio of 28.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted 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. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

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.