Park Avenue Securities LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 28.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,810 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 7,952 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $12,598,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. One Capital Management LLC grew its position in Accenture by 536.6% in the 2nd quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 6,672 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 5,624 shares during the period. Luts & Greenleigh Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the second quarter valued at about $235,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 27,632 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $8,384,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in Accenture in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,524,000. Finally, Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. boosted its stake in Accenture by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 103,798 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $31,493,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN traded up $0.46 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $349.45. 2,615,878 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,611,574. The stock has a market capitalization of $218.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.57, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day moving average of $357.98 and a 200-day moving average of $344.94. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.27 EPS. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.74 EPS for the current year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to repurchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.69%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 36,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,507,099 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.04.

Accenture 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.