Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 99.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,105 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 378.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,941,219,000 after buying an additional 4,345,039 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $666,495,000. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,324,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212,011 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 51,837.3% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 860,601 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $302,751,000 after purchasing an additional 858,944 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in Accenture by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,790,069 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,353,909,000 after buying an additional 826,038 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Accenture Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of ACN traded down $2.65 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $308.51. The stock had a trading volume of 2,870,173 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,766,683. 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's fifty day simple moving average is $356.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $356.56. The company has a market cap of $193.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.88, 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 - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.77 EPS. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 961 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.47, for a total transaction of $340,645.67. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,484 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,943,913.48. The trade was a 14.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Baird R W raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group lowered their price target on Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $378.23.

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.