Sone Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Sone Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 17,581 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,185,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Visionary Wealth Advisors grew its stake in Accenture by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Visionary Wealth Advisors now owns 778 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Vivaldi Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of Accenture by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 782 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $182,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, New England Professional Planning Group Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. now owns 655 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $230,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 1.8%

ACN stock opened at $317.45 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $302.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $341.15. The company has a market cap of $198.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $275.01 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.86%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Baird R W raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $381.76.

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.