Aurora Private Wealth Inc. Purchases New Position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Aurora Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 16,603 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,181,000. Accenture comprises approximately 1.3% of Aurora Private Wealth Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $2,351,683,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 30,256.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,067,651,000 after acquiring an additional 3,410,248 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted 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 during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $666,495,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 16.8% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of ACN stock traded up $2.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $304.58. 1,616,133 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,901,159. The business's fifty day moving average is $309.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $329.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.46 and a quick ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a 12-month low of $273.19 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.29.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Accenture's payout ratio is 47.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Accenture from $349.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price target (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $370.71.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 17,237 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,857,041.86. This trade represents a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.