PFG Advisors Sells 3,329 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

PFG Advisors trimmed its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 16.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,347 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 3,329 shares during the period. PFG Advisors’ holdings in Accenture were worth $5,751,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 28,234 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,932,000 after buying an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Natural Investments LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,343,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 54,248 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $19,084,000 after buying an additional 5,569 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 2,973 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Donaldson Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 249,865 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $87,900,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total value of $91,514.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,516,610.90. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total transaction of $242,750.30. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,073,892.12. This represents a 7.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $388.96.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $327.79 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $364.92 and a 200-day moving average of $358.63. The firm has a market cap of $205.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.27 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

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.