FourThought Financial Partners LLC Decreases Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 31,269 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 431 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.4% of FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $10,973,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $17,945,673,000 after buying an additional 184,541 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 4.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,089,485,000 after purchasing an additional 565,505 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,388,856,000 after purchasing an additional 720,647 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Accenture by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,285,864 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,544,672,000 after purchasing an additional 443,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,398,049 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,340,568,000 after purchasing an additional 20,876 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $3.37 on Friday, reaching $303.71. 2,767,141 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,150,080. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $342.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $341.73. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $261.68 and a 52 week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 price objective (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup lowered their price target on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 2,070 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.32, for a total transaction 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.