Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. reduced its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 11,097 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 237 shares during the quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,894,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Brookstone Capital Management increased its holdings in Accenture by 171.8% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 6,718 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after buying an additional 4,246 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.9% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 47,080 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $14,459,000 after purchasing an additional 2,622 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.7% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 276,120 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $84,799,000 after purchasing an additional 4,578 shares during the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 12.4% during the third quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 2,396 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $736,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 11.1% during the third quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 29,713 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $9,125,000 after purchasing an additional 2,973 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the completion of 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, 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 transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $301.20 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $202.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $261.68 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $345.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $342.03.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS 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 paid 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 1.71%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Redburn Atlantic raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price objective for the company. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.