Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Purchases 7,124 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 31.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,717 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,124 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.9% of Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Accenture were worth $10,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $531,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 3,278 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,007,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC IL raised its holdings in Accenture by 26.1% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC IL now owns 986 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $303,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. McBroom & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. McBroom & Associates LLC now owns 17,671 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $5,427,000 after buying an additional 973 shares during the period. Finally, Ziegler Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 42.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 41,383 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,709,000 after buying an additional 12,302 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 price target (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total value of $1,119,118.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,417,957.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related 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 transaction of $316,376.27. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total value of $1,119,118.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,193 shares in the company, valued at $3,417,957.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,833 shares of company stock valued at $13,645,871 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN traded down $2.71 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $314.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 289,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,359,531. The firm has a market cap of $210.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $261.68 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $353.29 and a 200-day moving average of $342.40.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued 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 payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

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.