Weatherly Asset Management L. P. Sells 385 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Weatherly Asset Management L. P. reduced its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,543 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 385 shares during the period. Weatherly Asset Management L. P.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,945,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,241,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $310,000. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,117 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $392,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas raised its holdings in Accenture by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 2,284 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $801,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Accenture by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 29,717 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $10,428,000 after buying an additional 7,124 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,045,053.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 39,833 shares of company stock worth $13,645,871. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $0.62 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $316.80. The stock had a trading volume of 2,000,140 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,386,068. The firm has a market cap of $212.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.79, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $261.68 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The business has a fifty day moving average of $354.21 and a 200 day moving average of $342.37.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research 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. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 46.78%.

Accenture 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.