S Bank Fund Management Ltd Decreases Holdings in Accenture PLC $ACN

S Bank Fund Management Ltd reduced its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 20.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,984 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 4,624 shares during the period. S Bank Fund Management Ltd’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. RFG Advisory LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 102.0% in the fourth quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 2,143 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $575,000 after purchasing an additional 1,082 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $1,036,000. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,112 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $298,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,380,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in Accenture by 26.1% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 110,149 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,553,000 after acquiring an additional 22,784 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.23, for a total value of $1,461,130.11. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,679,963.65. This trade represents a 28.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Accenture from $295.00 to $253.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $317.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $282.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.50.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $179.10 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $119.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $195.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $235.35. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $173.56 and a fifty-two week high of $325.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.82 EPS. Analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.40%.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.