Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Redwood Investments LLC

Redwood Investments LLC lessened its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,800 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 389 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 2.0% of Redwood Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Redwood Investments LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 3,345 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,177,000 after buying an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,833 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $643,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 54.4% in the fourth quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,499 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $879,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $377,000. Finally, Peoples Financial Services CORP. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 30.7% during the fourth quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 894 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $321.04 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $303.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $341.80. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $275.01 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.77 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.82.

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.