Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 54.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,419 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 5,232 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,551,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, RVW Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total value of $2,267,312.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,884,051.87. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 have sold 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,146,998 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 target price (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Accenture Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of ACN opened at $313.94 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $261.68 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $210.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $358.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $342.14.

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 net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.