Calamos Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Calamos Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 11.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 169,166 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 21,401 shares during the period. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $59,362,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, RVW Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $1.46 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $316.00. The stock had a trading volume of 2,995,246 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,376,917. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $261.68 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $357.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $341.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.53, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS 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 issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total value of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,417,957.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total value of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,417,957.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total value of $2,267,312.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,884,051.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 41,750 shares of company stock worth $14,543,436. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 price objective (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

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.