Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning Trims Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning lowered its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 17.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,202 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 1,063 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 0.9% of Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,803,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Integrity Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at about $255,000. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC now owns 4,592 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,685 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $584,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 13.1% during the 1st quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 5,733 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,987,000 after buying an additional 663 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 1st quarter worth approximately $123,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on ACN. Redburn Atlantic boosted their price objective on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Accenture from $395.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup lowered their target price on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $352.74.

Accenture Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $304.83 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $299.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $335.76. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $191.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.23.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.15 by ($0.02). Accenture had a return on equity of 27.48% and a net margin of 10.79%. The firm had revenue of $16.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 11.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,045,053.71. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,045,053.71. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,083 shares of company stock valued at $6,302,285. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.