Quantbot Technologies LP Sells 12,504 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Quantbot Technologies LP decreased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 67.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,120 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 12,504 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,153,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Sciencast Management LP increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 106.2% during the fourth quarter. Sciencast Management LP now owns 7,396 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,602,000 after purchasing an additional 3,810 shares in the last quarter. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 202.5% during the fourth quarter. Adams Diversified Equity Fund Inc. now owns 81,119 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,537,000 after purchasing an additional 54,300 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 15,903 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,595,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truepoint Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 30.6% during the fourth quarter. Truepoint Inc. now owns 4,424 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,556,000 after buying an additional 1,036 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. The trade was a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock 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 company has a market cap of $190.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $359.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $357.33. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.77 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. 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 1.94%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $396.00 to $364.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $425.00 to $370.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. 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 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $380.05.

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.