J.Safra Asset Management Corp Trims Stock Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

J.Safra Asset Management Corp decreased its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 8.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,510 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 146 shares during the quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Accenture were worth $471,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $295.26 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $273.19 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $308.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $331.22. The company has a market capitalization of $184.93 billion, a PE ratio of 23.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.33.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.13 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ACN. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays dropped their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $370.71.

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.