Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Purchases 9,016 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 206,392 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,016 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $72,425,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 180.0% during the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE ACN traded up $3.35 on Friday, reaching $303.69. 2,766,719 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,503,144. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $261.68 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The business's fifty day moving average price is $344.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $341.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The company 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%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.69 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ACN shares. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. BNP Paribas raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $440.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Redburn Atlantic boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Guggenheim started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $425.00 price target for the company. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $398.00 price objective (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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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