Cumberland Partners Ltd Purchases 3,652 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Cumberland Partners Ltd grew its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 64,012 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,652 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.8% of Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in Accenture were worth $20,791,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $1,241,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $310,000. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 16.6% in the 4th quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,117 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas raised its holdings in Accenture by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 2,284 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $801,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Accenture by 31.5% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 29,717 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $10,428,000 after purchasing an additional 7,124 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on ACN. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Accenture from $374.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Accenture from $363.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $375.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 price target (down previously from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Accenture Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $0.62 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $316.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,000,140 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,386,068. Accenture plc has a 12 month low of $261.68 and a 12 month high of $387.51. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $353.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $342.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $212.49 billion, a PE ratio of 28.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.19.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.85 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 10.89% and a return on equity of 28.30%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.69 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total transaction of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,417,957.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 3,010 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.80, for a total transaction of $1,119,118.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,417,957.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,862,494.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 39,833 shares of company stock valued at $13,645,871. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

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.