Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 6,256 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 381,546 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,256 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.3% of Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $134,224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 83,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,526,000 after purchasing an additional 5,465 shares in the last quarter. FWG Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 1,757 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $677,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,610 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $566,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp grew its stake in Accenture by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 2,402 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $845,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, Argentarii LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $422,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $388.96.

Accenture Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $341.68 on Monday. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $365.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $358.64. The company has a market cap of $213.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.66, a PEG ratio of 3.23 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.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.27 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. The trade was a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the general counsel now directly owns 20,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,446,422.28. This trade represents a 18.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Accenture

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.