Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Position Cut by UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp trimmed its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 12,012 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 95 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up about 1.2% of UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,215,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brave Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,116,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Searle & CO. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 803 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 760 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carr Financial Group Corp grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 1,245 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $437,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 price objective (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on Accenture in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE ACN traded up $4.60 on Tuesday, reaching $310.66. The company had a trading volume of 2,304,643 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,499,283. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $341.52 and its 200-day moving average is $342.26. The stock has a market cap of $208.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.15, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $261.68 and a 52 week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total value of $1,422,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,518,796. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,083 shares of company stock valued at $8,959,325. 0.07% of the stock is 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.