Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC lessened its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,129 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 61 shares during the quarter. Fi3 FINANCIAL ADVISORS LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $396,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,315,832,000 after purchasing an additional 96,414 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 8.3% during the fourth 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 period. Chicago Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew 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 valued at $199,167,000 after buying an additional 565,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 4.3% during the third quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,130,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Bank of America increased their target price on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Accenture in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price target on the stock. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. UBS Group boosted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised their price target on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of ACN traded up $3.37 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $303.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,767,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,150,080. The firm has a market cap of $203.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50 day moving average of $342.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $341.73. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $261.68 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

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

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.