Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stake Trimmed by Aspire Private Capital LLC

Aspire Private Capital LLC lessened its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 28.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,686 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 661 shares during the quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $592,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Chilton Capital Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 40.3% in the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 167 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN traded up $0.71 during trading on Monday, reaching $317.59. 2,433,300 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,391,084. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $261.68 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.02 billion, a PE ratio of 28.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $355.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $342.31.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ACN. BNP Paribas raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Redburn Atlantic lifted their price objective on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 price objective (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price target (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,705,516.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,833 shares of company stock worth $13,645,871 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture 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.