Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Sells 8,781 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC decreased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 576,162 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 8,781 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for 0.6% of Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Accenture worth $202,688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.22.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares in the company, valued at $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, 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 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $389.71 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $364.15 and its 200 day moving average is $353.43. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $243.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.27 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

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.