Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 12.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 165,111 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 18,558 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $51,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter worth $32,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 3.1%

Accenture stock traded down $9.36 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $288.04. 5,194,527 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,916,348. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $273.19 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.93, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.29. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $309.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $327.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced 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 company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. Accenture's revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.13%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 three months, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Argus set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Piper Sandler decreased 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. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $370.71.

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.