Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Purchases 22,066 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 525,574 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 22,066 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up 0.7% of Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned 0.08% of Accenture worth $184,429,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brave Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Brave Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,028 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 760 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp grew its position in shares of Accenture by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 1,245 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of Accenture by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 6,062 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,127,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jag Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 9,271 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,847,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of ACN stock traded up $0.67 on Tuesday, hitting $313.94. The company had a trading volume of 2,874,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,362,851. The firm has a market cap of $210.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $359.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $342.09. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $261.68 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The business 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on ACN. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (down from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total value of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was 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 directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,937,488.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ellyn Shook sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.81, for a total value of $1,859,050.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 20,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,553,691.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,146,998. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.