Congress Asset Management Co. MA Has $133.40 Million Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Congress Asset Management Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 380,159 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the period. Accenture makes up approximately 1.1% of Congress Asset Management Co. MA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Congress Asset Management Co. MA owned about 0.06% of Accenture worth $133,402,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 180.0% in the 4th quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Halpern Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. increased its stake in Accenture by 142.9% during the 4th quarter. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. now owns 102 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $4.39 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $286.71. 2,966,211 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,117,430. The firm has a market capitalization of $192.31 billion, a PE ratio of 25.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $278.69 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $304.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $338.71.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during 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 was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.08 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th were given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 46.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at $9,705,516.24. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,705,516.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.91, for a total transaction of $1,974,437.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 161,581 shares in the company, valued at $51,045,053.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,083 shares of company stock worth $8,959,325 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Redburn Atlantic upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Citigroup cut their price target on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Accenture from $419.00 to $365.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $367.50.

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.