Fmr LLC Acquires 24,587 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Fmr LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,079,213 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,587 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,435,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Accenture during the fourth quarter worth $358,000. Aristides Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 100.3% during the 4th quarter. Aristides Capital LLC now owns 6,810 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $2,396,000 after buying an additional 3,410 shares during the period. Ashburton Jersey Ltd acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $9,189,000. Sepio Capital LP raised its holdings in Accenture by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Sepio Capital LP now owns 1,495 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $526,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Darden Wealth Group Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Darden Wealth Group Inc now owns 2,228 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $784,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN stock opened at $285.04 on Monday. 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 $178.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.91, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $349.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $354.67. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $275.00 and a 12-month high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total value of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,431.38. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. This represents a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim cut their target price on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $378.23.

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.