Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Claret Asset Management Corp

Claret Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 997 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the quarter. Claret Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Accenture were worth $351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,351,683,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Accenture by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,283,225,000 after buying an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $666,495,000. Swedbank AB grew its position in Accenture by 47.5% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,324,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture by 51,837.3% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 860,601 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $302,751,000 after purchasing an additional 858,944 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.09, for a total transaction of $902,725.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,126,833.33. This represents a 11.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,778 shares of company stock valued at $8,408,087 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Accenture Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:ACN opened at $282.28 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $326.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $349.73. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $275.01 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The company has a market capitalization of $176.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.