Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Level Four Advisory Services LLC

Level Four Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 10.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,968 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,044,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 64.2% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $304.32 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $190.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.53, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $354.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $356.03. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.77 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.89%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total transaction of $242,750.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 8,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,073,892.12. The trade was a 7.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on ACN shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.23.

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.