Griffin Asset Management Inc. Acquires 2,165 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,744 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,165 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up 1.2% of Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $10,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth about $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter worth $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 607.1% in the third quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $372.99 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $233.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.29, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $357.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $348.01. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,446 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,848. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays upped their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $383.74.

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.