Janney Capital Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Janney Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 18.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 29,117 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 6,446 shares during the period. Janney Capital Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $10,218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 29,204 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $10,248,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008 shares during the period. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,559 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $9,671,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in 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 worth $1,315,832,000 after purchasing an additional 96,414 shares during the period. Redwood Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $7,098,000 after buying an additional 1,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC grew 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 valued at $4,449,000 after buying an additional 9,382 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ACN. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Mizuho restated a "buy" rating and issued a $398.00 price target (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $383.10.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock traded up $1.46 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $308.41. The company had a trading volume of 4,230,786 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,501,879. The company has a market capitalization of $206.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $333.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $342.87. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $276.36 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. Accenture's payout ratio is 46.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,705,516.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 13,699 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 28,083 shares of company stock valued at $8,959,325 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.07% 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.

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