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Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

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Key Points

  • Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture PLC by 71.9% during the first quarter, now owning 17,003 shares valued at approximately $5.31 million.
  • Accenture recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, with a payout ratio of 47.13%, reflecting a dividend yield of 2.3%.
  • Accenture's stock has seen analysts set varying price targets, with a consensus target price of $360.21 and an average rating of "Moderate Buy".
  • Interested in Accenture? Here are five stocks we like better.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 71.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,003 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,109 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Visionary Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in Accenture by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Vivaldi Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,981 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,863,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Sentinus LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 763 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,904 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,022,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Mizuho set a $348.00 price objective on shares of Accenture and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Accenture to a "moderate sell" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Argus set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $360.21.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Accenture

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 5,249 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,251 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.45, for a total transaction of $635,794.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,109 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,290,387.05. This represents a 21.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock traded down $11.92 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $255.18. The company had a trading volume of 6,041,752 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,832,535. The firm has a market cap of $159.83 billion, a PE ratio of 20.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a current ratio of 1.46. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $254.20 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $297.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $319.10.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The company's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.13 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Accenture Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Accenture (NYSE:ACN)

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