Principle Wealth Partners LLC Boosts Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 56.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,590 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,177 shares during the period. Principle Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $4,067,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH lifted its position in Accenture by 93.0% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 3,009 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $924,000 after purchasing an additional 1,450 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 21.9% during the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,474 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,988,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares in the last quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH lifted its position in Accenture by 1.0% during the third quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 5,217 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,602,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 1.7% during the third quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 2,095 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $643,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covenant Partners LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 6.2% during the third quarter. Covenant Partners LLC now owns 6,626 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,035,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $0.99 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $308.01. 3,371,848 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,670,314. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $261.68 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $349.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $342.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $206.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture's payout ratio is 46.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Mizuho reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $398.00 target price (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Redburn Atlantic raised their price target on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at $1,667,866.17. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 32,490 shares of company stock worth $10,592,664. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company's stock.

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.