Key Financial Inc Grows Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Key Financial Inc grew its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 999.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,431 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,119 shares during the period. Key Financial Inc’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,832,000 after purchasing an additional 96,414 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Investments LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,098,000 after buying an additional 1,542 shares during the period. Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 34,043 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $10,361,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 284.7% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,449,000 after buying an additional 9,382 shares during the period. Finally, Fortress Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fortress Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,220 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $374,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total value of $2,267,312.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,831 shares in the company, valued at $60,884,051.87. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total value of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,193 shares in the company, valued at $3,417,957.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total transaction of $2,267,312.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 167,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,884,051.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,750 shares of company stock valued at $14,543,436. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN traded up $0.60 on Wednesday, hitting $314.54. 2,758,254 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,368,537. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $358.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $342.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The business’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. 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, StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

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.