Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Abbrea Capital LLC

Abbrea Capital LLC increased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,110 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Abbrea Capital LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 3.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $531,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at $327,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 23.1% in the third quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 320 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. KFG Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 16.3% in the third quarter. KFG Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,382 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Blueprint LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 4.1% in the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 2,298 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $706,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock traded down $0.99 on Friday, reaching $308.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,371,567 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,435,283. The company has a market cap of $206.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $350.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $341.97. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $261.68 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture 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 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 ninety days, insiders sold 32,490 shares of company stock valued at $10,592,664. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 target price (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Mizuho reissued a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 price target (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Accenture in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price target on the stock. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

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.