Howe & Rusling Inc. Has $3.56 Million Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Howe & Rusling Inc. lessened its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,130 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 312 shares during the period. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $3,564,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth $366,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 31.1% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 36,707 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $12,913,000 after buying an additional 8,708 shares during the period. Moment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $525,000. Sava Infond d.o.o. purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $4,703,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,919,848 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,033,188,000 after buying an additional 113,949 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Up 0.8 %

ACN opened at $311.38 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $194.86 billion, a PE ratio of 26.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The business has a 50-day moving average of $356.77 and a 200-day moving average of $356.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.77 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. Accenture’s payout ratio is 48.89%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $396.00 to $364.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Eight 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $378.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In related news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total transaction of $91,514.72. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,516,610.90. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, 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 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.