Vestor Capital LLC Acquires New Shares in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Vestor Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 655 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 180.0% in the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 167 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on ACN. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. TD Cowen cut their price objective 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 boosted their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

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 value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 28,083 shares of company stock valued at $8,959,325. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $5.43 during trading 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.62 billion, a PE ratio of 27.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $264.42 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $338.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $342.14.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 EPS. Analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 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.