Evolution Advisers Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Evolution Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 71.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 214 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Evolution Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $74,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brave Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 760 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp raised its position in shares of Accenture by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 1,245 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc raised its position in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 2,372 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $832,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Accenture by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 6,062 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,127,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. BNP Paribas upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 price target (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Performance

Accenture stock traded down $4.56 during trading on Thursday, reaching $308.98. 3,634,490 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,423,520. The company’s 50-day moving average is $350.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $341.97. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The firm has a market cap of $207.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.01, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total value of $1,859,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,553,691.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total value of $1,611,139.39. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 34,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,937,824.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total transaction of $1,859,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 20,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,553,691.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,833 shares of company stock valued at $13,645,871 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.