Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases 7,688 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 348.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,894 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,688 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC now owns 3,093 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc grew its position in Accenture by 26.4% during the 4th quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc now owns 2,359 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $830,000 after acquiring an additional 493 shares during the last quarter. Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,484,000. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in Accenture by 57.3% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 414,054 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $151,998,000 after acquiring an additional 150,786 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fund 1 Investments LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $176,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of ACN traded down $5.76 on Friday, reaching $317.45. The stock had a trading volume of 3,967,388 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,988,787. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $302.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $341.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.63, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.77 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's payout ratio is 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. This trade represents a 13.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho reduced their price target on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $381.76.

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.