Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Transcend Capital Advisors LLC

Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,495 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 444 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,981,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brave Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.0% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $437,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PDS Planning Inc raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 2,372 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $832,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total value of $1,974,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,045,053.71. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of Accenture 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,490 shares of company stock valued at $10,592,664 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE:ACN traded down $0.99 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $308.01. 3,371,848 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,670,314. The firm has a market cap of $206.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $349.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $341.94.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on ACN. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. Mizuho reaffirmed 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

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.