Eagle Global Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Eagle Global Advisors LLC grew its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 33,776 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $11,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,351,683,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,283,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $666,495,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Accenture by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,325,526,000 after buying an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,324,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212,011 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,016 shares of company stock valued at $1,694,866 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on ACN. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays lowered their price target on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $377.82.

Accenture Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $304.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $190.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $306.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $343.86. Accenture plc has a one year low of $275.01 and a one year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.77 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.89%.

Accenture 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.