Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp cut its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 12.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 893,679 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 122,590 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned approximately 0.14% of Accenture worth $313,601,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,315,832,000 after purchasing an additional 96,414 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Investments LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $7,098,000 after buying an additional 1,542 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 284.7% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,449,000 after buying an additional 9,382 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 33,484.1% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,130,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 32,490 shares of company stock worth $10,592,664. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE ACN traded down $1.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $307.93. 3,371,677 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,435,283. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $261.68 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $349.66 and a 200 day moving average of $341.94. The company has a market cap of $206.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $387.00.

About Accenture

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.

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