Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Morningstar Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Morningstar Investment Management cut its Accenture stake by 44.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 25,113 shares and leaving it with 31,641 shares worth about $8.49 million.
• Accenture’s CEO, Atsushi Egawa, sold 4,872 shares at an average price of $177.14, a transaction worth about $863,026, executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan.
• The company recently beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, while analysts maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $274.50. Accenture also paid a quarterly dividend of $1.63 per share, yielding about 3.6%.

Morningstar Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 44.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,641 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 25,113 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $8,489,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $17,726,831,000 after buying an additional 854,361 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,135,065 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,938,156,000 after purchasing an additional 118,460 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 41.1% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,128,134 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,223,839,000 after purchasing an additional 4,984,930 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,869,199,000 after purchasing an additional 546,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 9.0% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 9,615,366 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,371,149,000 after purchasing an additional 790,580 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 16th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 20th. Citigroup cut their price target on Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on Accenture from $317.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $274.50.

Accenture Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $179.36 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $155.82 and a fifty-two week high of $321.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $187.42 and a 200 day moving average of $228.65.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.82 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.

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