Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Carderock Capital Management Inc.

Carderock Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 21,294 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 525 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 1.9% of Carderock Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Carderock Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,491,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ACN. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the second quarter valued at $1,524,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,999,000. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 13.8% during the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 41,701 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,652,000 after buying an additional 5,045 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 4.6% in the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,957 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,752,000 after buying an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clifford Group LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 9.0% during the second quarter. Clifford Group LLC now owns 2,286 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $694,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “hold” 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 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.04.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE ACN opened at $352.33 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $357.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $345.02. The stock has a market cap of $220.48 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.27 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors 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 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.66%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total value of $1,757,357.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,125 shares of company stock worth $9,570,260 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.