Benjamin Edwards Inc. Acquires 3,744 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 155,795 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,744 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 0.8% of Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Benjamin Edwards Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $54,877,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,351,683,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Accenture by 22.8% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $666,495,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in Accenture by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 47.5% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,324,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212,011 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Accenture from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $377.82.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,041 shares of company stock worth $5,254,956. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $3.51 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $304.20. 2,717,473 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,982,922. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $275.01 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $306.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $343.86. The firm has a market cap of $190.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Accenture's payout ratio is 48.89%.

Accenture Company 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.