Shellback Capital LP Takes $40.46 Million Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Shellback Capital LP acquired a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 115,000 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $40,456,000. Accenture accounts for approximately 2.8% of Shellback Capital LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 63,429 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $22,314,000 after buying an additional 3,883 shares during the period. Davidson Trust Co. boosted its position in Accenture by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $812,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 37.5% in the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,094 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,088,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 127.1% during the fourth quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $817,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Accenture by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $4,325,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on ACN. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. 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 research report on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho reduced their price target 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, Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $381.76.

Accenture Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE ACN opened at $323.17 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $302.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $341.53. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $275.01 and a 52 week high of $398.35. The stock has a market cap of $202.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.11, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.35. 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 posted 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 company had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.77 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were given a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock worth $2,507,366. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture 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.