Principle Wealth Partners LLC Boosts Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 56.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,590 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,177 shares during the period. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,067,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Accenture by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,388,856,000 after acquiring an additional 720,647 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,374,492 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $729,230,000 after acquiring an additional 611,376 shares during the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in Accenture by 71.4% during the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,388,701 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $487,309,000 after acquiring an additional 578,610 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 33,484.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $199,167,000 after buying an additional 565,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,089,485,000 after buying an additional 565,505 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock traded down $0.99 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $308.01. The stock had a trading volume of 3,371,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,670,314. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $261.68 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.59 billion, a PE ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $349.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $342.14.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,490 shares of company stock worth $10,592,664 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. StockNews.com downgraded Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. BNP Paribas raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

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.