Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Makes New $310,000 Investment in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 883 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $310,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strategic Blueprint LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 2,298 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $706,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 81.9% during the third quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,336 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $717,000 after buying an additional 1,052 shares during the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 19.8% during the third quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $799,000 after buying an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lockerman Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lockerman Financial Group Inc. now owns 739 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.3 %

Accenture stock opened at $307.93 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $206.54 billion, a PE ratio of 27.92, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $349.66 and its 200 day moving average is $341.94. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $261.68 and a 12-month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The firm 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 business earned $2.69 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on ACN. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Susquehanna reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 target price (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. BNP Paribas raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.00.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 2,070 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.32, for a total value of $766,562.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 47,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,445,775.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,490 shares of company stock valued at $10,592,664 over the last ninety days. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture 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.