Marshall Wace LLP Sells 1,116,491 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Marshall Wace LLP lessened its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 85.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 194,748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,116,491 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Accenture were worth $68,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Accenture by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,796 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $635,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 6,135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,169,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the period. Arvest Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $18,115,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.5% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 41,175 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $14,555,000 after buying an additional 1,015 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,921 shares of company stock valued at $9,876,619 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 1.0 %

Accenture stock opened at $285.66 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $178.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.96, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $275.01 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $330.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $350.70.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho cut their price objective on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.82.

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.