Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Suncoast Equity Management

Suncoast Equity Management grew its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 127,048 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,670 shares during the period. Accenture comprises approximately 5.9% of Suncoast Equity Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Suncoast Equity Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $44,582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 58,434,025 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $17,945,673,000 after purchasing an additional 184,541 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Accenture by 2.7% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,453,884 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $7,560,765,000 after acquiring an additional 704,657 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,642,841 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,440,976,000 after purchasing an additional 2,163,582 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 565,505 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 7.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,034,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $3,388,856,000 after buying an additional 720,647 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total transaction of $1,611,139.39. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 34,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,937,824.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,146,998. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price target for the company. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Accenture Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded down $0.38 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $312.89. 975,855 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,336,487. The business has a 50-day moving average of $359.41 and a 200-day moving average of $342.09. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $261.68 and a 1 year high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $209.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors 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 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

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.