Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Acquires 61 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,990 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Accenture were worth $12,629,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Brave Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 760 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp lifted its position in Accenture by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 1,245 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc lifted its position in Accenture by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 2,372 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $832,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Accenture by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 6,062 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,127,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $308.01 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $206.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $349.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $342.14.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares in the company, valued at $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,490 shares of company stock valued at $10,592,664 over the last ninety days. 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.