Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by InTrack Investment Management Inc

InTrack Investment Management Inc trimmed its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 10.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,246 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 273 shares during the quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc’s holdings in Accenture were worth $784,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 5,965 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,098,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the period. Somerset Trust Co increased its position in Accenture by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Somerset Trust Co now owns 12,890 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,535,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 212.3% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 14,212 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $5,000,000 after acquiring an additional 9,661 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Common Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 23,988 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $8,439,000 after acquiring an additional 1,635 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $352.33 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $357.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $345.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.48 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm 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 firm’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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 paid 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 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.66%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,125 shares of company stock valued at $9,570,260 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.04.

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.