Paladin Advisory Group LLC Sells 221 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Paladin Advisory Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 15.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,240 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 221 shares during the quarter. Paladin Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. United Bank lifted its position in Accenture by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,969 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Weitz Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 89,400 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $30,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,168 shares during the period. Fund Management at Engine No. 1 LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,805,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,292 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,459,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 104.8% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 441,451 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $148,871,000 after purchasing an additional 225,943 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total value of $1,611,139.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 34,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,937,824.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total value of $1,611,139.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 34,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,937,824.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 35,500 shares of company stock valued at $12,276,123. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN traded up $0.88 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $316.88. 3,381,158 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,390,528. The company has a market cap of $212.54 billion, a PE ratio of 28.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $261.68 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $356.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $341.77.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

About Accenture

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.