Transcend Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 444 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Transcend Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,495 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 444 shares during the quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $2,981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,284,770 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,315,832,000 after acquiring an additional 96,414 shares in the last quarter. Redwood Investments LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 20,227 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,098,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 284.7% during the 4th quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,449,000 after acquiring an additional 9,382 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 33,484.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $199,167,000 after acquiring an additional 565,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,130,000 after acquiring an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN traded down $0.99 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $308.01. The stock had a trading volume of 3,371,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,670,314. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $349.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $341.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a one year low of $261.68 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its 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. The company 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%. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid 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 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares in the company, valued at $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,490 shares of company stock valued at $10,592,664 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 target price (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 target price (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

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.