Compass Capital Management Inc. Sells 2,455 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Compass Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 167,679 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 2,455 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 4.2% of Compass Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Compass Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $58,840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 96,414 shares during the period. Redwood Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,098,000 after purchasing an additional 1,542 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 284.7% in 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 during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Accenture by 33,484.1% in 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 buying an additional 565,882 shares during the period. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $2.25 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $300.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,582,129 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,488,670. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $348.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $342.34. The stock has a market cap of $201.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a one year low of $261.68 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. 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 report on Thursday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised their target price on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 2,070 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.32, for a total value of $766,562.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 47,110 shares in the company, valued at $17,445,775.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287 in the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.