Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Schroder Investment Management Group

Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 851,657 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,259 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in Accenture were worth $298,855,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its position in Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 142.9% during the fourth quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. now owns 102 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $409.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Accenture from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $373.00.

Accenture Stock Down 1.1 %

ACN stock traded down $3.34 during trading on Friday, hitting $288.40. The company had a trading volume of 2,626,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,999,730. The firm has a market cap of $193.44 billion, a PE ratio of 26.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $308.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $340.22. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th were given a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,045,053.71. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,083 shares of company stock worth $8,959,325. Company insiders own 0.07% 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.