Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Argent Capital Management LLC

Argent Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 81,141 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,628 shares during the period. Argent Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $28,545,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,125 shares of company stock valued at $9,570,260 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $349.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.57, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $357.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $344.94. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.27 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.04.

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.