Rinkey Investments Raises Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Rinkey Investments lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 70.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,499 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,442 shares during the period. Rinkey Investments' holdings in Accenture were worth $1,231,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,351,683,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Accenture by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,283,225,000 after buying an additional 2,260,740 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $666,495,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its position in Accenture by 47.5% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,324,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212,011 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on ACN shares. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $377.82.

Accenture Stock Up 1.0 %

Accenture stock traded up $3.04 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $302.19. 1,427,906 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,374,478. 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 plc has a 12 month low of $275.01 and a 12 month high of $398.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $311.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $345.90. The company has a market cap of $189.27 billion, a PE ratio of 25.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total value of $91,514.72. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 15,041 shares of company stock worth $5,254,956. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

About Accenture

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.