Impax Asset Management Group plc Sells 131,610 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Impax Asset Management Group plc trimmed its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 79.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,777 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 131,610 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc's holdings in Accenture were worth $12,204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $17,945,673,000 after buying an additional 184,541 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,453,884 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $7,560,765,000 after purchasing an additional 704,657 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Accenture by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,642,841 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,440,976,000 after purchasing an additional 2,163,582 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 4.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,089,485,000 after buying an additional 565,505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,388,856,000 after acquiring an additional 720,647 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ACN. Citigroup lowered their price target on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Redburn Atlantic increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $360.00 price target (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN traded down $10.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $324.27. 2,156,147 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,321,776. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $261.68 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $363.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $341.84. The stock has a market cap of $217.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.1 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total transaction of $1,859,050.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 20,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,553,691.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total transaction of $1,859,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 20,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,553,691.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,000 shares of company stock worth $11,146,998 in the last 90 days. 0.07% 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.