Suncoast Equity Management Sells 1,553 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Suncoast Equity Management cut its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 125,507 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,553 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 4.9% of Suncoast Equity Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Suncoast Equity Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $44,152,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA lifted its holdings in Accenture by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 63,429 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $22,314,000 after acquiring an additional 3,883 shares during the last quarter. Davidson Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $812,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 78.6% during the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,047,000 after purchasing an additional 5,038 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,040,000. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 70.6% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,581,000 after buying an additional 14,724 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction 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 directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders sold a total of 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.22.

Accenture Trading Down 1.3 %

ACN opened at $385.06 on Friday. 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 plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $398.35. The company has a market cap of $240.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.30, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $367.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $355.77.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture 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.