HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,268 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,151 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $4,769,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cannell & Spears LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 44.2% in the 4th quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC now owns 3,346 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,177,000 after acquiring an additional 1,025 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 14,028 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,935,000 after buying an additional 681 shares during the period. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $70,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Accenture by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,283,225,000 after acquiring an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 106,159 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $37,346,000 after acquiring an additional 11,240 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Insider Activity at Accenture
In related news, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total transaction of $242,750.30. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,674 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,073,892.12. This represents a 7.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,497 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.48, for a total value of $885,136.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 28,866 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,232,419.68. This represents a 7.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim lowered their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $378.23.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on ACN
Accenture Trading Down 4.7 %
Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $14.99 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $301.34. 3,609,818 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,939,815. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $188.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.28, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The business's fifty day moving average price is $352.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $355.28.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm's revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.77 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Accenture Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 48.89%.
About Accenture
(
Free Report)
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.
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