Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $47.59 Million Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 135,288 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,186 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Accenture were worth $47,593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Czech National Bank increased its position in Accenture by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 127,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $45,104,000 after purchasing an additional 7,791 shares in the last quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC increased its position in Accenture by 26.8% during the 3rd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,122 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $397,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Security National Bank increased its position in Accenture by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Security National Bank now owns 17,188 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,076,000 after purchasing an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. Greenfield Savings Bank acquired a new position in Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $227,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in Accenture by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 654 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,497 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.48, for a total transaction of $885,136.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 28,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,232,419.68. This represents a 7.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,255 shares of company stock worth $4,756,101 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN opened at $391.98 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $360.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $350.64. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $392.45. The company has a market cap of $245.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.88, a PEG ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.22.

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.