Bremer Bank National Association Reduces Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Bremer Bank National Association trimmed its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 23.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 832 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 253 shares during the quarter. Bremer Bank National Association’s holdings in Accenture were worth $293,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 4,345,039 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 44.7% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $822,238,000 after acquiring an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 251.3% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,165,000 after buying an additional 712,400 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $251,607,000 after buying an additional 689,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $204,895,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $352.33 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $220.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day moving average is $357.59 and its 200 day moving average is $345.65. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its 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 net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on ACN. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. BNP Paribas cut shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.04.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. The trade was a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,125 shares of company stock worth $6,184,820. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.