Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 4,308 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 138,321 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 4,308 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Accenture were worth $48,538,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted 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 worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in 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 stake 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related 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 value of $550,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was 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 three months, insiders have sold 31,639 shares of company stock worth $10,276,287. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $308.01 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $206.59 billion, a PE ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $349.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $342.35. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $261.68 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on ACN shares. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Guggenheim started coverage on Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 target price (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus 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.