North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH Reduces Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH reduced its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,611 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,868 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up 3.6% of North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. North Point Portfolio Managers Corp OH’s holdings in Accenture were worth $20,971,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Accenture in the third quarter worth $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Accenture during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 9,196 shares of company stock valued at $3,226,918. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $362.65 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $226.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $357.37 and a 200 day moving average of $348.01. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on ACN. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wolfe Research raised Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $383.74.

Accenture 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.