Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Boosts Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,516 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,744 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $19,832,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brave Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 760 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp grew its position in shares of Accenture by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 1,245 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $437,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 6,062 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,127,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jag Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 9,271 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,847,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total value of $1,859,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,316 shares in the company, valued at $7,553,691.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total transaction of $1,859,050.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 20,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,553,691.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,750 shares of company stock valued at $14,543,436 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Mizuho reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 target price (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price target (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE ACN opened at $313.19 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $357.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $341.95. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $261.68 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.53, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.69 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

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.