Cresset Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Cresset Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 52.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 78,025 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 87,596 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $27,449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,351,683,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Accenture by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,283,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $666,495,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 16.8% in the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its stake in Accenture by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,324,029,000 after buying an additional 1,212,011 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,516,610.90. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at $4,677,625.26. This represents a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,041 shares of company stock valued at $5,254,956. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Wolfe Research raised Accenture from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $377.82.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $308.03 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $275.01 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The company has a market cap of $192.93 billion, a PE ratio of 25.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $307.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $344.13.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The business 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

About Accenture

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.

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