Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by SRS Capital Advisors Inc.

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 12.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,271 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $797,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 7.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,388,856,000 after purchasing an additional 720,647 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 34.7% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,374,492 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $729,230,000 after acquiring an additional 611,376 shares during the period. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Accenture by 71.4% in the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,388,701 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $487,309,000 after acquiring an additional 578,610 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 33,484.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $199,167,000 after purchasing an additional 565,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,089,485,000 after purchasing an additional 565,505 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 price target (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 2,070 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 47,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,445,775.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,639 shares of company stock worth $10,276,287 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:ACN traded up $3.35 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $303.69. 2,766,719 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,503,144. The company has a market capitalization of $203.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $261.68 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $344.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $341.74.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.69 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

About Accenture

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.