Meritage Portfolio Management Buys Shares of 585 Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Meritage Portfolio Management purchased a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 585 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 180.0% in the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 167 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on ACN. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 target price (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. BNP Paribas upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $307.93 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $261.68 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $206.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $349.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $341.94.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.69 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,490 shares of company stock worth $10,592,664 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.