Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors Sells 84 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors lowered its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,175 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 84 shares during the period. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors’ holdings in Accenture were worth $412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,945,673,000 after purchasing an additional 184,541 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,453,884 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,560,765,000 after purchasing an additional 704,657 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,642,841 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,440,976,000 after acquiring an additional 2,163,582 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,089,485,000 after acquiring an additional 565,505 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,388,856,000 after acquiring an additional 720,647 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE ACN opened at $313.36 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $210.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $261.68 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $359.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $342.09.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total value of $1,859,050.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,316 shares in the company, valued at $7,553,691.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total transaction of $1,859,050.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,316 shares in the company, valued at $7,553,691.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares in the company, valued at $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 31,000 shares of company stock worth $11,146,998. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

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.