Evolution Advisers Inc. Increases Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Evolution Advisers Inc. increased its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 71.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 214 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the quarter. Evolution Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $74,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Founders Financial Securities LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $327,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 320 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 2,298 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $706,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,001,000. Finally, Welch Group LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 15,070 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,628,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 20,316 shares in the company, valued at $7,553,691.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 20,316 shares in the company, valued at $7,553,691.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total value of $1,611,139.39. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 34,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,937,824.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,833 shares of company stock worth $13,645,871 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. BNP Paribas raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $4.56 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $308.98. 3,634,490 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,423,520. The company has a market cap of $207.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a one year low of $261.68 and a one year high of $387.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $350.89 and a 200 day moving average of $341.97.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 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.