Bancreek Capital Management LP Sells 6,554 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Bancreek Capital Management LP lowered its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 31.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 13,975 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 6,554 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for 4.8% of Bancreek Capital Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Bancreek Capital Management LP’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,916,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Swedbank AB raised its position in Accenture by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,551,679 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $901,967,000 after purchasing an additional 363,401 shares during the last quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $218,000. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 8.7% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 532,534 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $188,240,000 after acquiring an additional 42,753 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its position in Accenture by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 13,014 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,600,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Investment Consultants LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth about $377,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN opened at $305.17 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $359.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $357.13. 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 P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. 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 (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.77 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company’s 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 owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,677,625.26. The trade was a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ACN. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Baird R W raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim reduced their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Eight investment 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 data from MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $380.05.

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.