Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stake Decreased by abrdn plc

abrdn plc lessened its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 27.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 767,038 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 292,440 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for 0.6% of abrdn plc's portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. abrdn plc owned approximately 0.12% of Accenture worth $269,161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 2.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,315,832,000 after acquiring an additional 96,414 shares during the period. Redwood Investments LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $7,098,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 284.7% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,449,000 after acquiring an additional 9,382 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 33,484.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $199,167,000 after acquiring an additional 565,882 shares during the period. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 4.3% in the third quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,130,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at $51,045,053.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares of the company's stock, valued at $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total value of $1,611,139.39. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 34,795 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,937,824.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,500 shares of company stock worth $12,276,123 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock traded up $0.88 during trading on Friday, reaching $316.88. 3,381,612 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,947,733. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $212.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.73, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.19. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $355.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $342.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Susquehanna reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $387.00.

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.