Stevens Capital Management LP Has $2.26 Million Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Stevens Capital Management LP trimmed its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 66.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,430 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 12,477 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,256,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 180.0% in the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 40.3% during the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 167 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 price objective (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, 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 $0.99 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $308.01. 3,371,567 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,435,283. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $350.89 and a 200-day moving average of $341.97. Accenture plc has a one year low of $261.68 and a one year high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $206.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,490 shares of company stock valued at $10,592,664. 0.07% 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.