Griffin Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,744 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,165 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 1.2% of Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $10,112,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,758,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Accenture by 12.0% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 67,666 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $20,530,000 after acquiring an additional 7,254 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 92,083 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $27,938,000 after purchasing an additional 2,211 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 340.5% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 652 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $198,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. Finally, Saratoga Research & Investment Management lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 38.3% during the second quarter. Saratoga Research & Investment Management now owns 170,313 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $51,675,000 after purchasing an additional 47,192 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Up 2.9 %

ACN stock opened at $372.99 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $357.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $348.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market cap of $233.41 billion, a PE ratio of 31.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.27 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.09, for a total transaction of $902,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 19,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,126,833.33. The trade was a 11.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total value of $1,723,205.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 20,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,446,422.28. The trade was a 18.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,446 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,848 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $383.74.

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.