Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Ethos Financial Group LLC

Ethos Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 18.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,594 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at $592,000. TIAA Trust National Association acquired a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at $18,231,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 5.2% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 943 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Dubuque Bank & Trust Co increased its stake in Accenture by 18.4% in the third quarter. Dubuque Bank & Trust Co now owns 1,328 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Finally, Brady Family Wealth LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 0.5% in the third quarter. Brady Family Wealth LLC now owns 23,159 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,112,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly 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 28,083 shares of company stock worth $8,959,325 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ACN shares. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 price target (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded down $5.43 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $306.56. The stock had a trading volume of 3,238,071 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,507,225. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $264.42 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $338.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $342.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $205.62 billion, a PE ratio of 27.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

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.