Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp grew its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,446 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 96 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for approximately 0.8% of UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Accenture were worth $12,821,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $182,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Accenture by 62.2% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Accenture by 0.3% during the third quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,871,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. now owns 655 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $230,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCW Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 11,501 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,065,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $308.97 on Wednesday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $398.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $357.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $356.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $193.35 billion, a PE ratio of 25.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 48.89%.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. The trade was a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com cut Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $378.91.

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.