Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stock Holdings Decreased by Benjamin Edwards Inc.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. reduced its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,033 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 57 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises about 2.0% of Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $9,135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 206,392 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $72,425,000 after purchasing an additional 9,016 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 64,982 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $22,803,000 after acquiring an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. West Family Investments Inc. now owns 1,196 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $420,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,442 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,208,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $2,326,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on ACN. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. BNP Paribas raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $1.29 on Thursday, hitting $299.95. 1,363,422 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,483,655. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $345.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $342.03. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $261.68 and a 1-year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 31,639 shares of company stock worth $10,276,287. 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.