Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by SlateStone Wealth LLC

SlateStone Wealth LLC increased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 12.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,264 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,710 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $5,356,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brave Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 2.8% in the fourth 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 during the period. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC raised its position 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 worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp raised its position in Accenture by 2.4% in the fourth 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. PDS Planning Inc raised its position in Accenture by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 2,372 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $832,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Accenture by 0.5% in the fourth 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. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $316.83 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $353.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $342.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.72, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a one year low of $261.68 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total value of $1,119,118.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,417,957.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total transaction of $1,859,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 20,316 shares in the company, valued at $7,553,691.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 39,833 shares of company stock valued at $13,645,871 in the last 90 days. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on ACN shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus 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.