Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 21.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 44,261 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,889 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $15,532,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brave Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,116,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 760 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp grew its holdings in Accenture by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 1,245 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $437,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDS Planning Inc increased its position in shares of Accenture by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 2,372 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $832,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 2,070 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.32, for a total transaction of $766,562.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 47,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,445,775.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock worth $10,276,287 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Redburn Atlantic raised their target price on Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Accenture Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $4.85 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $303.16. The stock had a trading volume of 4,718,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,463,137. The company has a market capitalization of $203.34 billion, a PE ratio of 27.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $261.68 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $348.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $342.34.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

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.