Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Trims Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. decreased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,084 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 543 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 180.0% in the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 2,070 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.32, for a total transaction of $766,562.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 47,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,445,775.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded up $3.37 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $303.71. The company had a trading volume of 2,767,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,150,080. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $261.68 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $203.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.53, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $342.95 and a 200-day moving average of $341.73.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Accenture in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price target for the company. Redburn Atlantic boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price target (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 price target (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Accenture Company 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.