Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Holdings Trimmed by Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lessened its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 91,505 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 737 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 2.6% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $32,110,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 760 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Jag Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 9,271 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,847,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 712 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $250,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 3.6% during the third quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 917 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Accenture by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 866 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total value of $2,267,312.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 167,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,884,051.87. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total transaction of $1,859,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 20,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,553,691.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total value of $2,267,312.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,884,051.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,146,998. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $346.10 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $217.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $369.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $340.38. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $261.68 and a 1 year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Mizuho reissued a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 price target (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Citigroup decreased 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. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average 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.