Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Position Lowered by NCM Capital Management LLC

NCM Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,117 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 177 shares during the quarter. NCM Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $745,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $2,351,683,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Accenture by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,283,225,000 after acquiring an additional 2,260,740 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $666,495,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Accenture by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its stake in Accenture by 47.5% during 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 buying an additional 1,212,011 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group cut their price target on Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Baird R W raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $381.76.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $319.70 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $275.01 and a one year high of $398.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $302.57 and a 200-day moving average of $340.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $200.24 billion, a PE ratio of 26.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.85%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 48.89%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. 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.