Bell Asset Management Ltd Sells 14,531 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Bell Asset Management Ltd lessened its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 40.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 21,554 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 14,531 shares during the period. Accenture makes up about 1.4% of Bell Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Bell Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on ACN shares. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Eight 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $378.23.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $285.04 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $349.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $354.67. The stock has a market cap of $178.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.91, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $275.00 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.77 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 961 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.47, for a total transaction of $340,645.67. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,943,913.48. This represents a 14.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.