Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Lowers Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. cut its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 90,276 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 937 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 1.4% of Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $31,679,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Chilton Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 during the period. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 40.3% during the third 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 during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 32,490 shares of company stock valued at $10,592,664. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $1.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $307.89. 1,774,411 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,414,397. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $261.68 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $350.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $341.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $206.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 46.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ACN shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Redburn Atlantic lifted their target price on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

About Accenture

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.