Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Dearborn Partners LLC

Dearborn Partners LLC reduced its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 108,662 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,562 shares during the period. Accenture comprises 1.6% of Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Dearborn Partners LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $38,226,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 378.9% in 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 during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $666,495,000. Swedbank AB boosted its position in Accenture by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,324,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212,011 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Accenture by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,790,069 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,353,909,000 after acquiring an additional 826,038 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 2.0 %

ACN opened at $335.34 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $209.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.13, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $365.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $358.67. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $398.35.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total value of $91,514.72. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total transaction of $242,750.30. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 8,674 shares in the company, valued at $3,073,892.12. This represents a 7.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $388.96.

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.