Capital Advisors Inc. OK Purchases 4,992 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 146,588 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,992 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Inc. OK’s holdings in Accenture were worth $39,330,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Investors Research Corp increased its holdings in Accenture by 73.8% during the 3rd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 106 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 132.6% in the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 107 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Davis Capital Management purchased a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter worth $28,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their target price on Accenture from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.88.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $198.13 on Wednesday. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $187.00 and a 52 week high of $325.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $131.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $222.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $244.02.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 19th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.82 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.40%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, COO Catherine Kiernan Hogan sold 660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.93, for a total value of $185,413.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 12,688 shares in the company, valued at $3,564,439.84. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 1,026 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.70, for a total value of $289,024.20. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 27,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,656,887.70. This represents a 3.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 22,088 shares of company stock valued at $5,970,434 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.