Kovack Advisors Inc. Purchases Shares of 751 Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Kovack Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 751 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $264,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 0.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 184,541 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 13,316,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,089,485,000 after purchasing an additional 565,505 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Accenture by 7.0% in 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 buying an additional 720,647 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Accenture by 5.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,285,864 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,544,672,000 after buying an additional 443,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,398,049 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,340,568,000 after buying an additional 20,876 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of ACN stock opened at $303.16 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $203.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.19. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $261.68 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $348.33 and a 200-day moving average of $342.34.

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. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. Accenture’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.69 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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 $1.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total transaction of $1,536,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,699 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Accenture news, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.22, for a total value of $1,536,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,699 shares in the company, valued at $4,208,606.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 31,639 shares of company stock worth $10,276,287. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 price target (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Accenture from $364.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 price target for the company. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

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.