Private Advisor Group LLC Purchases 2,876 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 11.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,641 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,876 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $10,050,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 1,393 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $489,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 5,065 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,777,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management boosted its position in Accenture by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 11,588 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,217,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 35,819 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,569,000 after acquiring an additional 4,402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. now owns 1,014 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded up $4.48 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $310.54. 1,388,281 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,488,250. The firm has a market capitalization of $208.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $341.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $342.26. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 target price (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 at this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,083 shares of company stock worth $8,959,325 over the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.