29,642 Shares in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Bought by Woodline Partners LP

Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 29,642 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,428,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ACN. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its position in Accenture by 62.2% during 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 last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 9,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,806,442.95. This represents a 18.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 3,563 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.78, for a total value of $1,003,982.14. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 17,237 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,857,041.86. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,516 shares of company stock valued at $2,507,366. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $316.22 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $302.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $340.47. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $275.01 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The stock has a market cap of $198.06 billion, a PE ratio of 26.53, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.87%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price target (up from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday. Seven 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 data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $382.14.

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.