Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stake Cut by Haverford Trust Co

Haverford Trust Co lowered its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 683,711 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,042 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 2.4% of Haverford Trust Co’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Haverford Trust Co’s holdings in Accenture were worth $240,523,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $305.17 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $359.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $357.33. The stock has a market cap of $190.97 billion, a PE ratio of 25.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $398.35.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim cut their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group dropped their target price on Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $380.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,497 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.48, for a total transaction of $885,136.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,232,419.68. This represents a 7.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.