Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by Securian Asset Management Inc.

Securian Asset Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 33,583 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,061 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $11,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 47,407 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $16,677,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $158,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 20,527 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,221,000 after acquiring an additional 1,194 shares during the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 147 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,619 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,625,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ACN. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $388.96.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $327.79 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market cap of $205.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.50, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $364.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $358.63.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.27 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.