Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB decreased its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 19.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,551,295 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 367,539 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned about 0.25% of Accenture worth $416,212,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 36.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 46.9% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $618,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. United Bank increased its stake in Accenture by 49.8% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,088,000 after acquiring an additional 1,209 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in Accenture by 23.0% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 4.2% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $528,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Accenture from $251.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Berenberg Bank initiated coverage on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $313.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Accenture from $317.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.50.

Accenture Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE:ACN opened at $179.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $119.18 billion, a PE ratio of 14.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $195.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $235.35. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $173.56 and a 12-month high of $325.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.Accenture’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.82 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $1.63 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.23, for a total value of $1,461,130.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,679,963.65. This trade represents a 28.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.