Calamos Advisors LLC Sells 21,401 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Calamos Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 11.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 169,166 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 21,401 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $59,362,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,832,000 after purchasing an additional 96,414 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Investments LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,098,000 after purchasing an additional 1,542 shares during the last quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 34,043 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,361,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 9,382 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 33,484.1% during 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 in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total value of $1,859,050.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,553,691.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, 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 transaction of $2,267,312.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,831 shares in the company, valued at $60,884,051.87. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total value of $1,859,050.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 20,316 shares in the company, valued at $7,553,691.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 41,750 shares of company stock valued at $14,543,436. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on ACN shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price target (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5 %

ACN traded up $1.46 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $316.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,995,246 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,376,917. 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 plc has a 1 year low of $261.68 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $357.35 and its 200-day moving average is $341.95.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The business’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

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.