NovaPoint Capital LLC Raises Stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

by · The Cerbat Gem

NovaPoint Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN – Free Report) by 2.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,815 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 1.3% of NovaPoint Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. NovaPoint Capital LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,311,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $2,351,683,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 30,256.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,067,651,000 after buying an additional 3,410,248 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Accenture by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,283,225,000 after acquiring an additional 2,260,740 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $666,495,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Accenture by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,325,526,000 after acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,965 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total transaction of $1,003,982.14. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 17,237 shares in the company, valued at $4,857,041.86. This represents a 17.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ACN. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $370.71.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Accenture

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN opened at $302.56 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $189.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $308.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $330.60. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $273.19 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.13 earnings per share. Accenture’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 47.13%.

Accenture Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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