Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Has $39.88 Million Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 113,369 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 895 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 3.2% of Lee Danner & Bass Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Lee Danner & Bass Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $39,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Accenture during the third quarter valued at $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $425.00 to $370.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $384.45.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $300.86 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $360.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $357.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market cap of $188.28 billion, a PE ratio of 25.24, a PEG ratio of 3.23 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.77 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. This represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190. Insiders own 0.02% 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.