Accenture PLC $ACN Stake Raised by Dana Investment Advisors Inc.

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 112,250 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,394 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for about 0.9% of Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $30,117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 96.4% during the fourth quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steph & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 107.5% during the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 110 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $168.94 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a 1 year low of $155.82 and a 1 year high of $322.86. The business’s fifty day moving average is $190.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $231.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The company had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were paid a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 53.40%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. The trade was a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ACN. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 target price on Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Accenture from $282.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Accenture from $330.00 to $265.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.50.

Accenture Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.