Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Sold by Banque Pictet & Cie SA

Banque Pictet & Cie SA lowered its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,705 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 2,848 shares during the quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,897,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,486,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 46.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $618,000 after buying an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. United Bank grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 49.8% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,088,000 after acquiring an additional 1,209 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 258.8% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,452 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,021,000 after acquiring an additional 9,703 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the second quarter worth about $55,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ACN. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Accenture from $320.00 to $240.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 16th. HSBC upgraded Accenture from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $220.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Berenberg Bank started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $313.00 price objective on the stock. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.88.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 1,026 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.70, for a total transaction of $289,024.20. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 27,181 shares in the company, valued at $7,656,887.70. This represents a 3.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of Accenture 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,679,963.65. The trade was a 28.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 22,088 shares of company stock valued at $5,970,434 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $201.18 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $218.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $243.39. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $187.00 and a 52-week high of $325.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.48, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.82 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 3.2%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

About Accenture

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.