Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Patron Partners LLC

Patron Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,049 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Patron Partners LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $721,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Trust Point Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Trust Point Inc. now owns 6,184 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,176,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. GEN Financial Management INC. purchased a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $241,000. Optas LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Optas LLC now owns 1,472 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $518,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter worth approximately $179,000. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Accenture by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,677 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,460,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $375.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group cut 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. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total transaction of $1,723,205.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 20,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,446,422.28. This trade represents a 18.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 13,255 shares of company stock worth $4,756,101. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 0.2 %

ACN opened at $385.62 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $241.32 billion, a PE ratio of 32.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.24. 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 50-day moving average price of $359.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $350.23. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

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.