K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Invests $262,000 in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc acquired a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 746 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 96,414 shares during the period. Redwood Investments LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,542 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC grew its holdings 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 last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted 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 valued at $199,167,000 after purchasing an additional 565,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions 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 value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was 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 approximately $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,490 shares of company stock worth $10,592,664 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. BNP Paribas raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Redburn Atlantic increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $0.99 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $308.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,371,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,670,314. The company has a market cap of $206.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $349.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $341.94.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.