Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC Has $4.75 Million Holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 329.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 13,510 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,364 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for approximately 1.8% of Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $4,753,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Accenture by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 518 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $182,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. now owns 655 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Nemes Rush Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 7.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 4.3% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ACN shares. Baird R W upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Eight research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $377.82.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This represents a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The sale 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 Accenture stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,278,431.38. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their position. 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 Stock Down 1.0 %

Accenture stock opened at $282.28 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $328.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $350.21. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $275.01 and a twelve month high of $398.35.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.77 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

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.