Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by LGL Partners LLC

LGL Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 13.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,365 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 204 shares during the quarter. LGL Partners LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $479,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Certuity LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 1,356 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $476,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Islay Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 30.7% in the 4th quarter. Islay Capital Management LLC now owns 2,134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $749,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the period. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 34,877 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,239,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its stake in Accenture by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 7,003 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,457,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 44,261 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $15,532,000 after purchasing an additional 7,889 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN traded down $2.29 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $300.87. 2,247,437 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,459,281. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $261.68 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $348.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $342.34.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors 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 yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ACN. Citigroup cut their price target on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Redburn Atlantic increased their price objective on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. BNP Paribas upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Bank of America raised their price target on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.