Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Howland Capital Management LLC

Howland Capital Management LLC raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 18.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,417 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the period. Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,202,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture by 607.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares in the company, valued at $3,278,431.38. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $386.04 on Friday. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $241.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $362.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $352.03.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.27 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wolfe Research upgraded Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.22.

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.