D.A. Davidson & CO. Acquires 4,220 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 262,819 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,220 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $70,515,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $17,726,831,000 after acquiring an additional 854,361 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,135,065 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,938,156,000 after acquiring an additional 118,460 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 41.1% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,128,134 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,223,839,000 after acquiring an additional 4,984,930 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,869,199,000 after acquiring an additional 546,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 9.0% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 9,615,366 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,371,149,000 after purchasing an additional 790,580 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE ACN opened at $178.61 on Monday. Accenture PLC has a 12 month low of $173.84 and a 12 month high of $325.71. The stock has a market cap of $118.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $199.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $237.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.23, for a total value of $1,461,130.11. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,679,963.65. This represents a 28.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO John F. Walsh sold 3,986 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.38, for a total value of $1,101,650.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 10,057 shares of company stock worth $2,566,169. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. Citigroup reduced their price target on Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 price target on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Accenture from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Accenture from $317.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Argus reduced their price target on Accenture from $370.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.50.

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.