First Merchants Corp Increases Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

First Merchants Corp raised its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,009 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 60 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Accenture were worth $16,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 63,429 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $22,314,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883 shares during the period. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 78.6% in the 3rd quarter. Schrum Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,448 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,047,000 after buying an additional 5,038 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,040,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 70.6% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 35,591 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,581,000 after buying an additional 14,724 shares during the period. Finally, M&G PLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 34.1% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $103,361,000 after acquiring an additional 74,438 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total value of $91,514.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,280 shares of company stock valued at $8,316,190 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.2 %

ACN stock opened at $389.71 on Friday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $364.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $353.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $243.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.69, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.27 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is 49.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ACN shares. BNP Paribas downgraded Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.22.

Accenture Company 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.