West Family Investments Inc. Raises Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

West Family Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,196 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $420,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 180.0% in the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded up $1.68 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $300.34. 1,184,689 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,481,494. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $345.84 and a 200-day moving average of $342.03. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $261.68 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $201.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.26, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side 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 issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 2,070 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 47,110 shares in the company, valued at $17,445,775.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Mizuho reissued a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 price target (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. 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.com, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

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.