Tran Capital Management L.P. Decreases Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Tran Capital Management L.P. decreased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 27,064 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 55 shares during the period. Accenture makes up about 1.1% of Tran Capital Management L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Tran Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $9,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Accenture by 378.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,941,219,000 after purchasing an additional 4,345,039 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 44.7% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $822,238,000 after buying an additional 837,677 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Accenture by 2,666.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 715,219 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $251,607,000 after acquiring an additional 689,366 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $204,895,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 37,788.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $180,401,000 after purchasing an additional 509,011 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $362.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $357.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $347.30. The company has a market capitalization of $226.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.42, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.27 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Eight investment 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $383.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,278,431.38. This represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at $4,412,909.16. This represents a 40.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,332 shares of company stock valued at $6,172,719. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.