Melissa A. Burgum Sells 232 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $386.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $361.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $351.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $241.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Accenture

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 22,100 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,774,000 after acquiring an additional 1,511 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 28,234 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $9,932,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Natural Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,343,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 54,248 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $19,084,000 after buying an additional 5,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Planning Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 2,973 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after buying an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wolfe Research upgraded Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.22.

Accenture Company 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.