Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Ledyard National Bank

Ledyard National Bank raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,568 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 960 shares during the period. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Accenture were worth $10,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,945,673,000 after buying an additional 184,541 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Accenture by 4.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,089,485,000 after purchasing an additional 565,505 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Accenture by 7.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,388,856,000 after purchasing an additional 720,647 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,285,864 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,544,672,000 after buying an additional 443,004 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,398,049 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,340,568,000 after buying an additional 20,876 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at $9,705,516.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ACN shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 target price (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $4.85 during trading on Monday, hitting $303.16. 4,718,498 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,463,137. The stock has a market cap of $203.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $348.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $342.34. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $261.68 and a 12-month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The business 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 quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

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.