Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Nisa Investment Advisors LLC

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 146,553 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 22,565 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $51,556,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 4.2% during the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 6,517 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,977,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 50,111 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $15,204,000 after purchasing an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,944 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,500,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in Accenture by 18.7% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 172,199 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $52,247,000 after buying an additional 27,168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 2.8% during the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,413 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,036,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ACN. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America raised their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $383.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total transaction of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at $4,412,909.16. This trade represents a 40.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,845 shares of company stock valued at $5,645,518 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $356.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $222.98 billion, a PE ratio of 29.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $357.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $346.26. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released 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 analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.66%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.