Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 18,558 Shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 12.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor 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 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,394,657 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $21,246,236,000 after purchasing an additional 392,183 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,528,348 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,750,021,000 after buying an additional 136,665 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Accenture by 16.8% during 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 buying an additional 1,770,024 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Accenture by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,283,225,000 after acquiring an additional 2,260,740 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Accenture by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,513,140 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,994,922,000 after acquiring an additional 181,449 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price 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. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price objective (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim decreased their price target on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a "mixed" rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, June 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $370.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Down 2.5%

NYSE ACN traded down $7.35 during trading on Friday, reaching $281.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,075,765 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,924,955. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $176.00 billion, a PE ratio of 22.37, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.29. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $273.19 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $309.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $327.92.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.13 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 47.13%.

Accenture 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.