Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Position Decreased by GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd

GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd decreased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,270,949 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 174,658 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 7.2% of GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd’s holdings in Accenture were worth $447,107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 378.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,941,219,000 after buying an additional 4,345,039 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $666,495,000. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 47.5% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,324,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212,011 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 51,837.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 860,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,751,000 after purchasing an additional 858,944 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its holdings in Accenture by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,790,069 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,353,909,000 after purchasing an additional 826,038 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. The trade was a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $396.00 to $364.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $380.05.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $305.17 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a market capitalization of $190.97 billion, a PE ratio of 25.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $359.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $357.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.77 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.