603 Shares in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Acquired by Charles Schwab Investment Advisory Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 603 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Brave Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $361,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 3,181 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Searle & CO. grew its position in Accenture by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 803 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC raised its stake 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 valued at $267,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carr Financial Group Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 1,245 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $437,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN traded up $4.60 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $310.66. 2,483,561 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,501,316. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $340.17 and its 200-day moving average is $342.35. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $261.68 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The company has a market capitalization of $208.37 billion, a PE ratio of 28.17, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 28,083 shares of company stock valued at $8,959,325 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup reduced their price target on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

Accenture Company 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.