PKS Advisory Services LLC Invests $246,000 in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

PKS Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 698 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 378.9% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,941,219,000 after acquiring an additional 4,345,039 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $666,495,000. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 47.5% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,324,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212,011 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 51,837.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 860,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $302,751,000 after purchasing an additional 858,944 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Accenture by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,790,069 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,353,909,000 after buying an additional 826,038 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $308.97 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $193.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $357.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $356.88.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.77 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 961 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.47, for a total value of $340,645.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,943,913.48. The trade was a 14.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ACN. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group cut their target price on Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $378.91.

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.