Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,020 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 542 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for 0.5% of Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $10,209,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its position in Accenture by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,857,041.86. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 6,016 shares of company stock worth $1,694,866. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $377.82.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $307.85 on Monday. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $275.01 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market capitalization of $192.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $304.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $342.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

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.