K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Purchases Shares of 746 Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc bought a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 746 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Blueprint LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 4.1% during the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 2,298 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $706,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 81.9% in the 3rd quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,336 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $717,000 after acquiring an additional 1,052 shares in the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $799,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 61,469 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $18,878,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the period. Finally, Lockerman Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 6.5% in the third quarter. Lockerman Financial Group Inc. now owns 739 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $0.99 during trading on Friday, hitting $308.01. 3,371,848 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,670,314. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $261.68 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $206.59 billion, a PE ratio of 27.92, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $349.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $341.94.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total transaction of $550,399.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,667,866.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Manish Sharma sold 1,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.39, for a total value of $550,399.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,503 shares in the company, valued at $1,667,866.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,490 shares of company stock worth $10,592,664 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on ACN. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. BNP Paribas raised Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

Accenture Company 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.