Ascent Group LLC Buys 5,550 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Ascent Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 59.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,932 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,550 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $5,253,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ACN. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Seven equities research 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, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $382.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock traded up $0.70 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $316.13. The company had a trading volume of 3,434,636 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,999,928. The company has a market capitalization of $198.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $275.01 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $302.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $339.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.77 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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