Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by PFG Investments LLC

PFG Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,625 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 253 shares during the quarter. PFG Investments LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,275,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the second quarter worth $2,758,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 67,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $20,530,000 after buying an additional 7,254 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 92,083 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,938,000 after buying an additional 2,211 shares during the period. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Accenture by 340.5% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 652 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $198,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Saratoga Research & Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 38.3% during the 2nd quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management now owns 170,313 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $51,675,000 after buying an additional 47,192 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total transaction of $1,723,205.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 20,526 shares in the company, valued at $7,446,422.28. This represents a 18.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,446 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,848. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $383.74.

Accenture Trading Up 2.9 %

ACN opened at $372.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $357.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $348.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The company has a market cap of $233.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 49.66%.

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.