Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 11,026 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 18.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,785 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 11,026 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $25,253,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $2,351,683,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Accenture by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,283,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $666,495,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 16.8% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Accenture by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,324,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212,011 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of Accenture 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $377.82.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded up $2.27 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $306.07. 2,647,747 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,981,587. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.68, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $275.01 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $306.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $343.86.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.77 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 48.89%.

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.