Candlestick Capital Management LP Purchases Shares of 28,894 Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Candlestick Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 28,894 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,165,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Accenture during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.9% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,796 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 8.4% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 6,135 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,169,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the period. Arvest Bank Trust Division bought a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $18,115,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in Accenture by 2.5% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 41,175 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $14,555,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total value of $91,514.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 8,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,516,610.90. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,041 shares of company stock worth $5,254,956. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $293.63 on Monday. Accenture plc has a one year low of $275.01 and a one year high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $316.14 and its 200 day moving average is $347.02. The firm has a market cap of $183.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.63, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32.

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

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.