Norden Group LLC Lowers Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Norden Group LLC cut its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 13.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,483 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,431 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up approximately 0.5% of Norden Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Norden Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 180.0% in the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 40.3% in the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 167 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at $51,045,053.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $1.79 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $301.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,995,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,456,486. The stock has a market cap of $202.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $261.68 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $348.33 and a 200-day moving average of $342.34.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 price target (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

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.