Montag & Caldwell LLC Sells 7,391 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Montag & Caldwell LLC lessened its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 33.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,699 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 7,391 shares during the quarter. Montag & Caldwell LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,158,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth 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 worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 2,070 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.32, for a total transaction of $766,562.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 47,110 shares in the company, valued at $17,445,775.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock worth $10,276,287. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $3.90 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $304.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,137,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,417,778. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.98 billion, a PE ratio of 27.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $349.66 and a 200 day moving average of $342.35. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $261.68 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 last 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America raised their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Redburn Atlantic raised their target price on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.