Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Prossimo Advisors LLC

Prossimo Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,113 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises about 1.6% of Prossimo Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Prossimo Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $741,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. US Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $673,000. Breed s Hill Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at $224,000. Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 79,052 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,740,000 after buying an additional 3,259 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,285 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $802,000 after buying an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR lifted its stake in Accenture by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Pioneer Trust Bank N A OR now owns 39,343 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $13,806,000 after acquiring an additional 1,510 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 value of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,208,606.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.12, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 28,083 shares of company stock valued at $8,959,325 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Guggenheim started coverage on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $379.00 to $419.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $0.80 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $307.41. The stock had a trading volume of 908,132 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,489,306. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $337.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $341.89. The firm has a market cap of $206.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $268.18 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

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.