Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC Acquires 51 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 24,052 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises about 2.3% of Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Franklin Parlapiano Turner & Welch LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $8,461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of ACN opened at $375.13 on Thursday. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $234.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $358.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $349.02. 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 (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.27 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.66%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total transaction of $1,723,205.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 20,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,446,422.28. The trade was a 18.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 16,446 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,848. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.74.

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.