Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Redwood Investments LLC

Redwood Investments LLC trimmed its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,800 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 389 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 2.0% of Redwood Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Redwood Investments LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $7,317,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,394,657 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $21,246,236,000 after acquiring an additional 392,183 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,528,348 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,750,021,000 after purchasing an additional 136,665 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Accenture by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,325,526,000 after buying an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,283,225,000 after buying an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,994,922,000 after acquiring an additional 181,449 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $321.04 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $201.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50 day moving average of $303.05 and a 200-day moving average of $341.80. Accenture plc has a one year low of $275.01 and a one year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.77 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 48.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho cut their target price on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.82.

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.