Fernwood Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Fernwood Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,450 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 75 shares during the quarter. Fernwood Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,777,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,945,673,000 after buying an additional 184,541 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,089,485,000 after acquiring an additional 565,505 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,388,856,000 after purchasing an additional 720,647 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Accenture by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,285,864 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,544,672,000 after purchasing an additional 443,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,398,049 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,340,568,000 after acquiring an additional 20,876 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 2,070 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.32, for a total value of $766,562.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 47,110 shares in the company, valued at $17,445,775.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at $1,667,866.17. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 2,070 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.32, for a total value of $766,562.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 47,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,445,775.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 target price (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Trading Down 1.6 %

Accenture stock traded down $4.85 during trading on Monday, reaching $303.16. The company had a trading volume of 4,718,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,463,137. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $349.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $342.35. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $261.68 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.