Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Coastline Trust Co

Coastline Trust Co decreased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,040 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 718 shares during the quarter. Coastline Trust Co’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $182,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.6% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 725 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $282.28 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $176.80 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $326.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $349.73. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $275.01 and a 1 year 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.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on ACN. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.82.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 sold a total of 23,778 shares of company stock worth $8,408,087 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

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.