Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Scotia Capital Inc.

Scotia Capital Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 10.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 309,970 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 28,379 shares during the quarter. Scotia Capital Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $109,050,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $182,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. now owns 655 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCW Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 11,501 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,065,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at $4,677,625.26. This represents a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,921 shares of company stock worth $9,876,619. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $289.66. 1,521,985 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,001,508. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $181.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.30, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $275.01 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $334.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $351.59.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.77 EPS. Research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.89%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on ACN shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price target 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 research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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.