Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 83,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,465 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $29,526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 63,429 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $22,314,000 after buying an additional 3,883 shares during the period. Davidson Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $812,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 78.6% during the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,047,000 after purchasing an additional 5,038 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,040,000. Finally, Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lifted its stake in Accenture by 126.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 40,051 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $14,090,000 after purchasing an additional 22,391 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on ACN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $388.96.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $341.68 on Monday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $365.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $358.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $213.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.66, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total value of $1,723,205.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 20,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,446,422.28. This trade represents a 18.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.