South Plains Financial Inc. Acquires Shares of 2,574 Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

South Plains Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,574 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $905,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $182,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. now owns 655 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $230,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Nemes Rush Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $147,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 725 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded down $3.87 on Tuesday, reaching $303.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,402,556 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,975,565. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $275.01 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $307.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $344.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market capitalization of $190.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.45, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.89%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on ACN. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho lowered their target price on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $377.82.

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.