W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. Purchases 159 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 18.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,014 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $356,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,945,673,000 after buying an additional 184,541 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,089,485,000 after acquiring an additional 565,505 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Accenture by 7.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,388,856,000 after purchasing an additional 720,647 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,285,864 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,544,672,000 after acquiring an additional 443,004 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,398,049 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,340,568,000 after purchasing an additional 20,876 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded up $3.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $303.71. The stock had a trading volume of 2,767,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,150,080. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $342.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $342.23. Accenture plc has a one year low of $261.68 and a one year high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.53, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 46.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. 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 note on Tuesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,045,053.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock worth $10,276,287. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.