Capital Research Global Investors Increases Stock Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 16.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,770,024 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 0.9% of Capital Research Global Investors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Capital Research Global Investors owned about 1.96% of Accenture worth $4,325,526,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. now owns 655 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $230,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its position in Accenture by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. boosted its stake in Accenture by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 725 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective 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. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group cut their price target on Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $377.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total transaction of $643,242.92. Following 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 trade represents a 18.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,778 shares of company stock valued at $8,408,087 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $282.28 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $326.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $349.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.80 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $275.01 and a 52 week high of $398.35. 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 earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.77 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

About Accenture

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.