Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Holdings Increased by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 348.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,894 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,688 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,481,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in Accenture by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 135,482 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $47,661,000 after buying an additional 7,881 shares in the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 44.5% in the fourth quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,607 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $565,000 after purchasing an additional 495 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 7,207 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,535,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 105.7% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 5,617 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,976,000 after purchasing an additional 2,886 shares during the period. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH grew its holdings in Accenture by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 4,220 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,485,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $322.32 on Tuesday. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $275.01 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $303.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $342.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.77 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 48.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ACN. Barclays cut their price target on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.82.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,016 shares of company stock valued at $1,694,866 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.