Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Gotham Asset Management LLC

Gotham Asset Management LLC lowered its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 29.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,406 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 7,098 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $6,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA grew its holdings in Accenture by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 63,429 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $22,314,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883 shares during the period. Davidson Trust Co. grew its holdings in Accenture by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $812,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Accenture by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,094 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the period. SteelPeak Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 127.1% during the fourth quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $817,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Accenture by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Down 1.8%

ACN stock traded down $5.76 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $317.45. 3,967,388 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,993,760. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $275.01 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The business has a 50 day moving average of $302.60 and a 200-day moving average of $341.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.77 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Accenture's payout ratio is 48.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $381.76.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the 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 now directly owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.