Naviter Wealth LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Naviter Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 27.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,070 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,101 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 96,414 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Investments LLC grew its holdings 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 grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 284.7% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,449,000 after buying an additional 9,382 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 33,484.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $199,167,000 after buying an additional 565,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.3% during the third quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,130,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Accenture news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 target price (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $3.57 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $304.44. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,988,335 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,427,625. The firm has a market capitalization of $204.20 billion, a PE ratio of 27.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $261.68 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $349.66 and a 200 day moving average of $342.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The company’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio 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.