Accenture PLC $ACN Shares Bought by Dana Investment Advisors Inc.

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 112,250 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,394 shares during the period. Accenture comprises about 0.9% of Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $30,117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 878 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 329 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 0.9% during the third quarter. Holt Capital Advisors L.L.C. dba Holt Capital Partners L.P. now owns 4,416 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the second quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,751 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,108,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IVC Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 927 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on ACN. Berenberg Bank began coverage on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $313.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Accenture from $317.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Accenture from $280.00 to $230.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Accenture from $295.00 to $253.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $282.00 price target on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.50.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock opened at $168.94 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a 50 day moving average of $190.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $231.32. Accenture PLC has a 52 week low of $155.82 and a 52 week high of $322.86. The company has a market cap of $112.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.84, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.82 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a $1.63 dividend. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is presently 53.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares in the company, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by 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.