Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 576,162 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 8,781 shares during the period. Accenture comprises 0.6% of Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $202,688,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Banque Pictet & Cie SA grew its holdings in Accenture by 48.7% in the fourth quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 45,951 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $16,165,000 after purchasing an additional 15,054 shares during the period. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 32.2% in the fourth quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. now owns 2,138 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $752,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 14,900 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares during the period. DT Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,067 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,079,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $286,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total value of $91,514.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ACN. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.22.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $389.71 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market capitalization of $243.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $364.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $353.43.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.52%. Accenture’s payout ratio 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.