abrdn plc Has $269.16 Million Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

abrdn plc cut its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 27.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 767,038 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 292,440 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 0.6% of abrdn plc’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. abrdn plc owned approximately 0.12% of Accenture worth $269,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 180.0% in the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in Accenture during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, RVW Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Redburn Atlantic lifted their price target on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 target price (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total value of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,417,957.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,500 shares of company stock worth $12,276,123 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Trading Up 0.3 %

ACN stock traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $316.88. The stock had a trading volume of 3,381,612 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,947,733. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $355.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $341.83. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $261.68 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $212.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders 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 is presently 46.78%.

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.