Banco de Sabadell S.A Sells 589 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Banco de Sabadell S.A cut its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,401 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 589 shares during the period. Accenture makes up about 2.9% of Banco de Sabadell S.A’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Banco de Sabadell S.A’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim dropped their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Accenture from $396.00 to $364.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $425.00 to $370.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $380.05.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $305.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $359.16 and a 200-day moving average of $357.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 49.66%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total value of $91,514.72. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.