GTS Securities LLC Sells 5,515 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

GTS Securities LLC cut its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 43.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,270 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 5,515 shares during the period. GTS Securities LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $2,558,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,394,657 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $21,246,236,000 after purchasing an additional 392,183 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Accenture by 1.0% during 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 buying an additional 136,665 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 16.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 22.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,994,922,000 after acquiring an additional 181,449 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of Accenture 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Seven equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $382.14.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN traded up $0.94 during trading on Thursday, reaching $316.93. 919,066 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,992,074. 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 $198.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $302.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $339.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 48.89%.

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.