Federated Hermes Inc. Reduces Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Federated Hermes Inc. reduced its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 38.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 207,521 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 130,891 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $72,821,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,832,000 after purchasing an additional 96,414 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Investments LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,098,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542 shares in the last quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 34,043 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $10,361,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 284.7% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,449,000 after acquiring an additional 9,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 33,484.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $199,167,000 after acquiring an additional 565,882 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $316.00 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $356.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $341.77. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $211.95 billion, a PE ratio of 28.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.69 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Redburn Atlantic increased their price target on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. BNP Paribas upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,045,053.71. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 35,500 shares of company stock worth $12,276,123. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.