Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Benjamin Edwards Inc.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 26,033 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 57 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up 2.0% of Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $9,135,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,945,673,000 after buying an additional 184,541 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,089,485,000 after buying an additional 565,505 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,388,856,000 after purchasing an additional 720,647 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Accenture by 5.6% in the third 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 during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture by 0.5% in the third 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the company’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 transaction, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock worth $10,276,287 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $1.29 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $299.95. 1,363,422 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,483,655. The company has a market cap of $201.19 billion, a PE ratio of 27.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a one year low of $261.68 and a one year high of $387.51. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $345.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $342.03.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on ACN. Citigroup decreased their price target on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America raised their price target on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 target price (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

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.