Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE Trims Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE cut its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,741 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 67 shares during the period. Lawson Kroeker Investment Management Inc. NE’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,241,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 378.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Accenture by 47.5% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,324,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212,011 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Accenture by 2,666.5% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 689,366 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in Accenture during the third quarter valued at $204,895,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 509,011 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.74.

Accenture Trading Down 0.9 %

ACN stock opened at $375.13 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $234.75 billion, a PE ratio of 31.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $358.27 and its 200 day moving average is $349.02. 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 (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.27 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total value of $1,723,205.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 20,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,446,422.28. The trade was a 18.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.09, for a total transaction of $902,725.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 19,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,126,833.33. This trade represents a 11.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 16,446 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,848. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.