Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. trimmed its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 8.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,558 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 4,983 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.1% of Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $16,712,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 36.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $99,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 47.6% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,446 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $861,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,019,000. Finally, Berkshire Asset Management LLC PA lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Berkshire Asset Management LLC PA now owns 2,936 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Argus set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Benchmark restated a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $370.71.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on ACN
Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture
In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.
Accenture Stock Up 0.8%
Shares of ACN stock traded up $2.29 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $304.58. 1,616,133 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,901,159. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $273.19 and a one year high of $398.35. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $309.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $329.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.29.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Accenture Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 47.13%.
Accenture Company Profile
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Free Report)
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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