Sigma Planning Corp Reduces Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Sigma Planning Corp cut its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 55.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,205 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,496 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Accenture were worth $423,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brave Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.8% during 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. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 760 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Carr Financial Group Corp grew its stake in shares of 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. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 6,062 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,127,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Jag Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 9,271 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,847,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,490 shares of company stock valued at $10,592,664 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Bank of America upped their price target on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Redburn Atlantic upped their price target on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 price objective (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $307.93 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $261.68 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $349.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $341.94. The company has a market capitalization of $206.54 billion, a PE ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.19.

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 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 business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

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.