Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by New York Life Investment Management LLC

New York Life Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,970 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 8,008 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $34,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,388,856,000 after acquiring an additional 720,647 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 34.7% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,374,492 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $729,230,000 after purchasing an additional 611,376 shares during the period. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of Accenture by 71.4% in the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,388,701 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $487,309,000 after purchasing an additional 578,610 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 33,484.1% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $199,167,000 after purchasing an additional 565,882 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 4.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,089,485,000 after purchasing an additional 565,505 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $2.25 on Wednesday, reaching $298.66. 2,617,105 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,497,851. The company’s 50-day moving average is $347.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $342.34. The firm has a market cap of $200.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $261.68 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

About Accenture

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.