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

Lazard Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 24.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,535,396 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 808,890 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 1.3% of Lazard Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.41% of Accenture worth $891,925,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $2.76 during trading on Thursday, reaching $323.17. The stock had a trading volume of 3,047,632 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,988,220. The business's 50-day moving average price is $303.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $341.80. 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 plc has a fifty-two week low of $275.01 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The company has a market cap of $202.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.11, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm's revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.77 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. Accenture's payout ratio is 48.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on ACN. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays dropped their target price on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $377.82.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture 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.