Breakthru Advisory Services LLC Purchases New Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Breakthru Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,049 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $369,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,351,683,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Accenture by 22.8% in 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 during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $666,495,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in 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 valued at $4,325,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 1,212,011 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $0.73 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $316.16. 1,372,730 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,993,984. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $302.05 and a 200-day moving average of $339.47. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $275.01 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wall Street Zen cut Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Seven investment 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $382.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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.