Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Legato Capital Management LLC

Legato Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 34.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,534 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 6,099 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 0.5% of Legato Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,058,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth about $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. This represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ACN. 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. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.22.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $390.21 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $244.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $363.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $353.18.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.27 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.66%.

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.