Advocate Group LLC Purchases New Position in Accenture PLC $ACN

Advocate Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 19,166 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,142,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 36.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $6,486,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 46.9% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,066 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $618,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its holdings in Accenture by 49.8% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 3,639 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,088,000 after acquiring an additional 1,209 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 1.1% in the second quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 29,290 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $8,754,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 6,095 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,822,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 6,057 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.23, for a total transaction of $1,461,130.11. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,679,963.65. The trade was a 28.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.01, for a total value of $1,008,263.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 8,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,298,380.79. This represents a 30.49% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 22,088 shares of company stock valued at $5,970,434. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim lowered their target price on Accenture from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 16th. HSBC upgraded shares of Accenture from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $220.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $274.88.

Accenture Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of ACN opened at $201.18 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $187.00 and a fifty-two week high of $325.71. The business has a 50-day moving average of $217.22 and a 200 day moving average of $243.19. The firm has a market cap of $133.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The business 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 company’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.82 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Accenture Company 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.