Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Sfmg LLC

Sfmg LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,775 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Sfmg LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. United Bank lifted its stake in Accenture by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,969 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,001,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 89,400 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $30,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,168 shares in the last quarter. Fund Management at Engine No. 1 LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,805,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,292 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,459,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in Accenture by 104.8% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 441,451 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $148,871,000 after purchasing an additional 225,943 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. UBS Group increased their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price target (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,000 shares of company stock worth $11,146,998. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:ACN traded up $0.67 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $313.94. 2,900,382 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,239,222. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $358.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $342.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $210.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $261.68 and a 1 year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.69 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

About Accenture

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.