Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Holdings Raised by Capital International Sarl

Capital International Sarl increased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,360 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 441 shares during the period. Capital International Sarl’s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,811,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in Accenture by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in Accenture by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Down 1.0 %

ACN stock opened at $282.28 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $326.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $349.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market cap of $176.80 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $275.01 and a twelve month high of $398.35.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is 48.89%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. The trade was a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 23,778 shares of company stock worth $8,408,087. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target 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, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Accenture from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.82.

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.