Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stake Lowered by GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd

GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd decreased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,740,239 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 33,386 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up approximately 7.9% of GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. GUARDCAP ASSET MANAGEMENT Ltd owned approximately 0.28% of Accenture worth $610,667,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brave Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $361,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,116,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Searle & CO. grew its stake in Accenture by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 803 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 760 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $267,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carr Financial Group Corp grew its position in shares of Accenture by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 1,245 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $437,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded down $0.57 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $306.84. 1,810,795 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,483,259. The firm has a market capitalization of $205.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.21. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $334.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $342.75. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $274.62 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture's payout ratio is 46.78%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total transaction of $1,422,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 42,781 shares in the company, valued at $13,518,796. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares of the company's stock, valued at $51,045,053.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,083 shares of company stock valued at $8,959,325. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.

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