DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. Takes Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 76 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $27,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Accenture by 7.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,388,856,000 after buying an additional 720,647 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Accenture by 34.7% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,374,492 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $729,230,000 after buying an additional 611,376 shares during the period. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in Accenture by 71.4% in the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,388,701 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $487,309,000 after buying an additional 578,610 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 33,484.1% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,572 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $199,167,000 after buying an additional 565,882 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 4.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,089,485,000 after buying an additional 565,505 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $298.56 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $200.26 billion, a PE ratio of 27.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.21. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $345.84 and its 200 day moving average is $342.03. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $261.68 and a 1 year high of $387.51.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.29 per share. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total transaction of $1,369,747.96. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 30,702 shares in the company, valued at $9,705,516.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,639 shares of company stock valued at $10,276,287 in the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Redburn Atlantic increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 target price (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.