Golden State Equity Partners Purchases 701 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Golden State Equity Partners boosted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 29.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,059 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 701 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in Accenture were worth $1,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,832,000 after acquiring an additional 96,414 shares during the period. Redwood Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $7,098,000 after buying an additional 1,542 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 284.7% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,449,000 after buying an additional 9,382 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 33,484.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $199,167,000 after buying an additional 565,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,130,000 after buying an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded down $0.99 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $308.01. The company had a trading volume of 3,371,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,670,314. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $261.68 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $349.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $341.94. The company has a market cap of $206.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 32,490 shares of company stock valued at $10,592,664. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ACN. Redburn Atlantic upped their target price on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 target price (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. TD Cowen cut their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

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.