Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Reduces Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC decreased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 28,772 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 936 shares during the period. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $10,096,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Brave Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $361,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Searle & CO. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 803 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.0% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, Carr Financial Group Corp boosted its holdings in Accenture by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 1,245 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price target on the stock. Redburn Atlantic lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN traded up $1.33 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $311.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,283,894 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,499,014. The company’s 50-day moving average is $340.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $342.35. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $261.68 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $209.26 billion, a PE ratio of 28.29, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given 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 1.65%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,083 shares of company stock worth $8,959,325 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by 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.