Pegasus Asset Management Inc. Lowers Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Pegasus Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,475 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 88 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 2.5% of Pegasus Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Pegasus Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,499,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 8,742 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,075,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,032 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,122,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $728,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $1,011,000. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its holdings in Accenture by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 22,513 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,920,000 after acquiring an additional 3,967 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group increased their price target on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.22.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $387.12 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $242.26 billion, a PE ratio of 32.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $366.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $355.32. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.