SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Raises Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 12.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,271 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $797,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 180.0% in the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $3.35 on Friday, hitting $303.69. 2,766,719 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,503,144. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $344.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $341.74. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $261.68 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture 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 sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,639 shares of company stock worth $10,276,287 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Company 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.