Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Summit Global Investments

Summit Global Investments grew its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 450.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 66,263 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 54,218 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.5% of Summit Global Investments’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Summit Global Investments’ holdings in Accenture were worth $23,252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in Accenture by 171.8% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 6,718 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after acquiring an additional 4,246 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 47,080 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $14,459,000 after buying an additional 2,622 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 276,120 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $84,799,000 after buying an additional 4,578 shares in the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 2,396 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $736,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 11.1% during the third quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 29,713 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $9,125,000 after purchasing an additional 2,973 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Accenture Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of ACN stock traded up $0.86 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $299.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,019,277 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,491,064. The stock has a market capitalization of $200.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a one year low of $261.68 and a one year high of $387.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $345.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $342.03.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 2,070 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.32, for a total transaction of $766,562.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 47,110 shares in the company, valued at $17,445,775.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287. 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.