Financial Counselors Inc. Sells 2,884 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Financial Counselors Inc. trimmed its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,613 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 2,884 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $11,121,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp now owns 36,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,821,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $455,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 452,741 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $159,270,000 after purchasing an additional 4,356 shares during the period. Florida Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 71.2% in the 4th quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,868 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $657,000 after buying an additional 777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Potentia Wealth bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $369,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $311.38 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $356.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $356.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $194.86 billion, a PE ratio of 26.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.77 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.48, for a total transaction of $885,136.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 28,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,232,419.68. This trade represents a 7.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total value of $91,514.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,516,610.90. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on ACN. Wolfe Research upgraded Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.23.

Accenture Company 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.