Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Sells 6,496 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lowered its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 9.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 62,521 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 6,496 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $21,994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $2,351,683,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 378.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,941,219,000 after buying an additional 4,345,039 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $666,495,000. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,324,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212,011 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 51,837.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 860,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,751,000 after purchasing an additional 858,944 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the business’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 directly owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. The trade was a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders sold a total of 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $308.51 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $355.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $356.23. 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 twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The firm has a market cap of $193.06 billion, a PE ratio of 25.88, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $378.23.

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.