James Investment Research Inc. Has $3.19 Million Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

James Investment Research Inc. lowered its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,055 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 170 shares during the period. James Investment Research Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,185,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 607.1% during the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $387.99 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $242.80 billion, a PE ratio of 32.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $365.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $354.11.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th were issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.22.

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.