Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. decreased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,111 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,533 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $11,619,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,832,000 after purchasing an additional 96,414 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Investments LLC raised its position in Accenture by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,098,000 after purchasing an additional 1,542 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC raised its position in Accenture by 284.7% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,449,000 after purchasing an additional 9,382 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 33,484.1% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 565,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,130,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN traded up $1.33 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $311.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,283,894 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,499,014. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $340.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $342.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $209.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total value of $1,422,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 42,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,518,796. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 28,083 shares of company stock worth $8,959,325. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

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.