Zacks Investment Management Sells 12,922 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Zacks Investment Management lessened its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 11.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 102,088 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 12,922 shares during the period. Zacks Investment Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $35,913,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $182,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. now owns 655 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Nemes Rush Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $147,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 725 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $288.58 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $275.01 and a twelve month 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 firm has a market capitalization of $180.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.21, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $332.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $351.15.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced 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 business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.77 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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 paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Eight research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $378.23.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the sale, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,921 shares of company stock worth $9,876,619 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.