Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. Purchases 27,919 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 16.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 201,417 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,919 shares during the period. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $54,040,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,486,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 46.9% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $618,000 after buying an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 49.8% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,088,000 after buying an additional 1,209 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 23.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 828 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $176.47 on Wednesday. Accenture PLC has a 52-week low of $155.82 and a 52-week high of $322.86. The company has a market capitalization of $117.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The business had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.82 EPS. Accenture’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.40%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. HSBC reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.50.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.