Watchman Group Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Watchman Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,715 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 175 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 1.3% of Watchman Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Watchman Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Accenture by 12.8% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 27,296 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,649,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in Accenture by 18.0% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 489,830 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $173,145,000 after purchasing an additional 74,825 shares in the last quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,756 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $974,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Encompass More Asset Management raised its position in shares of Accenture by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 760 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $269,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tradition Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 0.3% in the third quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,871,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,677,625.26. The trade was a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.23.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $304.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $354.96 and its 200-day moving average is $356.03. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.77 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

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.