Resonant Capital Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Resonant Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,970 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,323 shares during the quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,200,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC grew 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 buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the first quarter worth about $28,000. 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. Finally, RVW Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth about $33,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. 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. TD Cowen decreased 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. Citigroup decreased their target price on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock traded up $0.56 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $316.56. The stock had a trading volume of 1,843,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,369,295. The stock has a market capitalization of $212.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.72, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $261.68 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $356.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $341.77.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for 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 last year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at $51,045,053.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,500 shares of company stock valued at $12,276,123 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

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.