Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Auxano Advisors LLC

Auxano Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 11.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,497 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 323 shares during the quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $876,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 180.0% in the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. 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. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 40.3% during the third quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 167 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $2.25 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $300.91. 4,582,119 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,488,429. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $348.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $342.34. The firm has a market cap of $201.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.27, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $261.68 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 price objective (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at $1,667,866.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the 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 directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock worth $10,276,287. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.