LPL Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN – Free Report) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 627,471 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,528 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.10% of Accenture worth $168,351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,486,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 46.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $618,000 after buying an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. United Bank grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 49.8% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,088,000 after buying an additional 1,209 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 23.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Accenture from $210.00 to $199.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Accenture from $247.00 to $201.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $282.00 target price on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $260.81.
Accenture Stock Performance
Shares of ACN opened at $170.76 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $182.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $222.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $155.82 and a 12 month high of $321.77. The company has a market cap of $113.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.08.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The company’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.82 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Accenture Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.40%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture
In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Accenture Company Profile
Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.
The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.
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