Lyell Wealth Management LP Invests $207,000 in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Lyell Wealth Management LP acquired a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 590 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 2.3% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,315,832,000 after purchasing an additional 96,414 shares during the period. Redwood Investments LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,098,000 after purchasing an additional 1,542 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 284.7% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,449,000 after purchasing an additional 9,382 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 33,484.1% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $199,167,000 after purchasing an additional 565,882 shares during the period. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 4.3% in the third quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,130,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE ACN traded down $4.53 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $309.01. The company had a trading volume of 3,071,060 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,411,498. The company has a market capitalization of $207.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $261.68 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $352.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $342.20.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup cut their target price on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total value of $1,611,139.39. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 34,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,937,824.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total transaction of $1,611,139.39. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 34,795 shares in the company, valued at $12,937,824.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,833 shares of company stock worth $13,645,871. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.