S.A. Mason LLC Acquires 300 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

S.A. Mason LLC raised its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 0.9% of S.A. Mason LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. S.A. Mason LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,650,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 127,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $45,104,000 after acquiring an additional 7,791 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 45.4% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,096 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,569,000 after buying an additional 3,151 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in Accenture by 45.2% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 10,607 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,750,000 after buying an additional 3,302 shares during the period. Everpar Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 26.8% in the 3rd quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC now owns 1,122 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $397,000 after buying an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 34,605 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $12,232,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.22.

Accenture Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $384.88 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $240.86 billion, a PE ratio of 32.29, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $359.56 and a 200-day moving average of $350.06.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.27 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total transaction of $1,723,205.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 20,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,446,422.28. The trade was a 18.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,255 shares of company stock worth $4,756,101. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.