Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc.

Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 76,620 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 5,630 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 2.2% of Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $26,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter worth $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. UBS Group upped their target price on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 5,090 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.22, for a total value of $1,899,689.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 38,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,490,266.50. This trade represents a 11.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total transaction of $170,948.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,649,265.25. This represents a 4.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,507,099 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded up $5.20 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $354.19. The company had a trading volume of 117,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,329,090. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.65 billion, a PE ratio of 30.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day moving average is $357.98 and its 200 day moving average is $344.94. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 11.20%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.