Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd cut its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 12.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,051 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 151 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Accenture were worth $369,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased 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 last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 167 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total transaction of $1,119,118.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,417,957.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total value of $1,119,118.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,417,957.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 20,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,553,691.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,833 shares of company stock valued at $13,645,871. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Redburn Atlantic lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $3.29 on Wednesday, reaching $313.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,125,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,408,091. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $353.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $342.40. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $210.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.34, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results 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. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. 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 company earned $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

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.