Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Sold by CCM Investment Advisers LLC

CCM Investment Advisers LLC decreased its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 42,234 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 416 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 1.8% of CCM Investment Advisers LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. CCM Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $14,820,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tucker Asset Management LLC increased its position in Accenture by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 641 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $332,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,247 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ACN. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Wedbush decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.50.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock opened at $286.71 on Monday. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $304.35 and its 200-day moving average is $338.75. The company has a market cap of $192.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.99, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th were paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,083 shares of company stock valued at $8,959,325. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.