Caprock Group LLC Purchases 1,383 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Caprock Group LLC raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,442 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,383 shares during the quarter. Accenture accounts for about 1.1% of Caprock Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Caprock Group LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $34,631,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 378.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,491,736 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,941,219,000 after purchasing an additional 4,345,039 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Accenture by 47.5% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,324,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212,011 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Accenture by 2,666.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 715,219 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $251,607,000 after purchasing an additional 689,366 shares in the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at $204,895,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 37,788.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $180,401,000 after purchasing an additional 509,011 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total transaction of $1,723,205.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 20,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,446,422.28. This represents a 18.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 16,446 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,848 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ACN shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.22.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $380.71 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $359.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $349.42. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $278.69 and a 12-month high of $387.51. 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 firm has a market cap of $238.25 billion, a PE ratio of 31.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.27 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.66%.

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.