Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. Reduces Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 96,038 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,291 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 2.5% of Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $33,701,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $17,945,673,000 after acquiring an additional 184,541 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.4% in the 3rd 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. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,388,856,000 after purchasing an additional 720,647 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,285,864 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,544,672,000 after purchasing an additional 443,004 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,398,049 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,340,568,000 after purchasing an additional 20,876 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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 research report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Guggenheim began coverage on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price objective for the company. Redburn Atlantic increased their price objective on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,490 shares of company stock worth $10,592,664 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE ACN traded down $0.99 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $308.01. The stock had a trading volume of 3,371,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,670,314. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $206.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $349.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $341.94.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. Accenture’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

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.