Prana Capital Management LP Invests $36.12 Million in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Prana Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 102,663 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $36,116,000. Accenture accounts for 1.7% of Prana Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,857,041.86. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. The trade was a 18.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $321.04 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $275.01 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The firm has a market cap of $201.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $303.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $341.80.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.77 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.84%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 48.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.82.

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.