Greystone Financial Group LLC Purchases New Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Greystone Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,653 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $712,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 132.6% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 107 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Davis Capital Management bought a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 96.4% during the fourth quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Berenberg Bank assumed coverage on Accenture in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $313.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Accenture from $317.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Accenture from $309.00 to $280.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $243.00 to $247.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.50.

Accenture Trading Down 1.3%

NYSE:ACN opened at $195.17 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $129.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture PLC has a twelve month low of $177.50 and a twelve month high of $325.71. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $203.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $239.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 26.33%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.82 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 53.40%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO John F. Walsh sold 3,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.38, for a total transaction of $1,101,650.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 27,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,523,339.98. This represents a 12.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,588 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.01, for a total value of $1,008,263.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,298,380.79. This trade represents a 30.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,331 shares of company stock worth $4,048,871. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.