Proffitt & Goodson Inc. Grows Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Proffitt & Goodson Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,409 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its position in Accenture by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 37,663 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $13,249,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,955 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 2,224 shares in the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $27,631,000. Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 120,293 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $42,318,000 after acquiring an additional 10,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortress Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $202,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. This represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total value of $242,750.30. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,073,892.12. This trade represents a 7.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE ACN opened at $348.28 on Friday. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The stock has a market cap of $217.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $367.28 and a 200-day moving average of $357.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $388.96.

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.