Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 525,574 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,066 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 0.7% of Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Accenture were worth $184,429,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Chilton Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 180.0% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 70 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in Accenture in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Halpern Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, RVW Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Kathleen R. Mcclure sold 851 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.77, for a total value of $316,376.27. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 50,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,862,494.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 17,877 shares in the company, valued at $5,937,488.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,000 shares of company stock worth $11,146,998 over the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $360.00 target price (down previously from $400.00) on shares of Accenture in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. BNP Paribas raised shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $440.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $425.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.00.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN traded up $0.67 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $313.94. The stock had a trading volume of 2,874,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,362,851. Accenture plc has a one year low of $261.68 and a one year high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $210.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s 50 day moving average is $359.41 and its 200-day moving average is $342.09.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be issued a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

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.