Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Main Street Research LLC

Main Street Research LLC raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,871 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the quarter. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $230,000. Marietta Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Marietta Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,085 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,697,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Suncoast Equity Management increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Suncoast Equity Management now owns 127,048 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $44,582,000 after purchasing an additional 1,670 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 2,473 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $868,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Prosperitas Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Prosperitas Financial LLC now owns 5,359 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,881,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total value of $1,611,139.39. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 34,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,937,824.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total transaction of $1,611,139.39. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 34,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,937,824.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 31,000 shares of company stock worth $11,146,998. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $1.36 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $314.63. 1,467,742 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,342,045. The company has a market cap of $211.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $359.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $342.09. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $261.68 and a 52 week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share 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 earned $2.69 EPS. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 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.