Rathbones Group PLC Grows Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Rathbones Group PLC raised its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,078,328 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 53,098 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 1.8% of Rathbones Group PLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Rathbones Group PLC owned 0.17% of Accenture worth $379,345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of ACN. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,866,000. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 28.8% during the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 31,967 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $11,300,000 after purchasing an additional 7,151 shares during the period. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter worth approximately $550,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 37.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 253 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $1.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $283.54. The stock had a trading volume of 5,017,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,010,801. The company has a market cap of $177.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The business's 50 day moving average price is $336.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $352.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $275.01 and a 1 year high of $398.35.

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Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.77 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 48.89%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total transaction of $242,750.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,674 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,073,892.12. The trade was a 7.32 % 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, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Accenture from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Accenture from $396.00 to $364.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus 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.