Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 533,971 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Clearbridge Investments LLC trimmed its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 18.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,356,751 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 533,971 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises about 0.7% of Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $829,082,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted 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 valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of ACN opened at $304.32 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $354.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $356.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.77 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total value of $242,750.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 8,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,073,892.12. This trade represents a 7.32 % 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 three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.23.

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.