Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) General Counsel Joel Unruch Sells 4,750 Shares

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total value 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 trade represents a 18.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $5.08 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $378.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,332,312 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,697,887. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $357.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $348.54. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $236.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.72, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.24. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share 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 quarter last year, the company earned $3.27 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. BMO Capital Markets raised 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. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $383.74.

Institutional Trading of Accenture

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 378.9% during 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 buying an additional 4,345,039 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Accenture by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,324,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212,011 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 44.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Accenture during the third quarter worth about $204,895,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Accenture

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.