3,549 Shares in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Purchased by Machina Capital S.A.S.

Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,549 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,245,000. Accenture comprises about 0.8% of Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Brave Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC increased its position in Accenture by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Searle & CO. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 803 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carr Financial Group Corp increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on ACN shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Redburn Atlantic lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 price objective (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on 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 completion of 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture 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 approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 28,083 shares of company stock worth $8,959,325. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $4.60 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $310.66. 2,291,446 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,491,810. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $261.68 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $208.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50 day moving average of $341.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $342.26.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 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.