Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Buys 4,945 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 63.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 12,766 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,945 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Accenture were worth $3,440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC grew its position in Accenture by 96.4% in the fourth quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 108 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Steph & Co. grew its position in Accenture by 107.5% in the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 110 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler set a $282.00 target price on Accenture in a report on Thursday, March 5th. HSBC decreased their target price on Accenture from $220.00 to $210.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Accenture from $300.00 to $230.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Accenture from $295.00 to $253.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Accenture from $266.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $274.50.

Accenture Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE:ACN opened at $179.36 on Friday. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $155.82 and a 1-year high of $321.77. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $187.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $228.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.08.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its earnings results on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.82 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were given a dividend of $1.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. This represents a $6.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.40%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total transaction of $863,026.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. This trade represents a 27.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.