Twin Capital Management Inc. Invests $3.93 Million in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Twin Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 11,204 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,932,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $1,850,765,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 101,214.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,040,402 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,141,000 after purchasing an additional 4,036,414 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Accenture by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,642,841 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,440,976,000 after purchasing an additional 2,163,582 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Accenture by 7.0% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 720,647 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in Accenture by 2.7% during the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 704,657 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total value of $1,422,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,518,796. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Jean-Marc Ollagnier sold 6,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total transaction of $2,267,312.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 167,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,884,051.87. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.00, for a total value of $1,422,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,781 shares in the company, valued at $13,518,796. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 41,750 shares of company stock valued at $14,543,436. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and set a $398.00 price target (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 price target (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN traded up $0.96 on Thursday, reaching $315.50. 1,377,011 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,353,577. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $357.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $341.95. The company has a market cap of $211.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.53, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $261.68 and a 12 month high of $387.51.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. Accenture’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.69 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.