Suncoast Equity Management Buys 1,670 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Suncoast Equity Management raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 127,048 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,670 shares during the period. Accenture makes up 5.9% of Suncoast Equity Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Suncoast Equity Management’s holdings in Accenture were worth $44,582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% in the third 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position 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 worth $7,560,765,000 after buying an additional 704,657 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 14.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,163,582 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 565,505 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in 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 valued at $3,388,856,000 after purchasing an additional 720,647 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares in the company, valued at $18,862,494.49. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total transaction of $316,376.27. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,146,998. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Down 0.1 %

ACN traded down $0.38 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $312.89. 975,855 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,336,487. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $359.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $342.09. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $261.68 and a 1-year high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $209.87 billion, a P/E 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.69 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be given a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.00.

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.