Sonora Investment Management Group LLC Boosts Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Sonora Investment Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 39,345 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,229 shares during the period. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $12,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,857,041.86. This represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3%

ACN stock opened at $316.72 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $198.37 billion, a PE ratio of 26.57, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.33. Accenture plc has a one year low of $275.01 and a one year high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $303.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $336.65.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.77 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 48.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Baird R W raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 target price (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $382.14.

Accenture Company 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.