AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,040 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $366,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 31.1% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 36,707 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,913,000 after buying an additional 8,708 shares in the last quarter. Moment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $525,000. Sava Infond d.o.o. purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at $4,703,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,919,848 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,033,188,000 after purchasing an additional 113,949 shares during the period. Finally, United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth about $1,372,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $304.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $190.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $354.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $355.97. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 5,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,943,913.48. This trade represents a 14.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.48, for a total value of $885,136.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 28,866 shares in the company, valued at $10,232,419.68. This represents a 7.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Accenture from $396.00 to $364.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $378.23.

Accenture 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.