Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Holdings Cut by Chapman Investment Management LLC

Chapman Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,574 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 580 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 4.5% of Chapman Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Chapman Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,091,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,061,490,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in shares of Accenture by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,751,531 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $614,615,000 after purchasing an additional 875,723 shares during the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $288,168,000. Generation Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $286,220,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $263,421,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total value of $1,422,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,781 shares in the company, valued at $13,518,796. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total value of $1,422,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,781 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,518,796. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 1.3 %

ACN stock traded up $3.82 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $297.99. 2,985,301 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,891,965. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $299.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $333.68. The company has a market cap of $186.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.23. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.15 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $16.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.19 EPS. Analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 11.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $335.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 17th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 21st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $351.82.

Accenture Company 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.