Tran Capital Management L.P. Decreases Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Tran Capital Management L.P. trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 54.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,418 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 14,646 shares during the quarter. Tran Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of ACN traded down $1.20 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $318.02. 2,192,507 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,958,129. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $275.01 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company's 50 day moving average is $304.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $336.42. The company has a market capitalization of $199.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.68, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.77 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.62.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.