Prana Capital Management LP Makes New $36.12 Million Investment in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Prana Capital Management LP bought a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 102,663 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $36,116,000. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.7% of Prana Capital Management LP's holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $381.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,857,041.86. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock traded down $0.62 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $318.77. The stock had a trading volume of 1,262,042 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,290,264. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $275.01 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $302.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $340.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

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.