Kane Investment Management Inc. Buys New Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Kane Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,866 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $656,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,677,625.26. The trade was a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,778 shares of company stock valued at $8,408,087. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho decreased their price target on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Baird R W raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $377.82.

Accenture Stock Down 1.0 %

Accenture stock traded down $2.96 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $282.28. 2,320,335 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,007,661. The company has a market cap of $176.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $275.01 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $328.38 and a 200-day moving average of $350.21.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.77 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. Accenture's payout ratio is 48.89%.

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.