Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Position Trimmed by Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC lowered its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 176,052 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,863 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises about 2.4% of Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $61,778,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,388,856,000 after acquiring an additional 720,647 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,374,492 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $729,230,000 after purchasing an additional 611,376 shares during the period. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Accenture by 71.4% during the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,388,701 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $487,309,000 after buying an additional 578,610 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 33,484.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $199,167,000 after buying an additional 565,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,089,485,000 after acquiring an additional 565,505 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ACN. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Redburn Atlantic upped their price objective on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock worth $10,276,287 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN traded up $3.37 during trading on Friday, hitting $303.71. The stock had a trading volume of 2,767,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,150,080. Accenture plc has a one year low of $261.68 and a one year high of $387.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $342.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $342.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 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.