Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Raises Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 21.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,261 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,889 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $15,532,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $17,945,673,000 after acquiring an additional 184,541 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 4.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,089,485,000 after purchasing an additional 565,505 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,388,856,000 after buying an additional 720,647 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Accenture by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,285,864 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,544,672,000 after buying an additional 443,004 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,398,049 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,340,568,000 after buying an additional 20,876 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $4.85 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $303.16. 4,718,498 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,463,137. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $348.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $342.34. Accenture plc has a one year low of $261.68 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. Accenture's revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Bank of America upped their price target on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $425.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a "neutral" rating and set a $360.00 price target (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $387.00.

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.

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