Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,528,348 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 136,665 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.16% of Accenture worth $4,750,021,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA increased its position in shares of Accenture by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 63,429 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $22,314,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883 shares in the last quarter. Davidson Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $812,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC boosted its position in Accenture by 126.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 40,051 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $14,090,000 after acquiring an additional 22,391 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Accenture by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 3,094 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,088,000 after acquiring an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 127.1% in the 4th quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 2,323 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $817,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Accenture Stock Performance

ACN stock traded down $14.99 on Thursday, hitting $301.34. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,612,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,939,831. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $188.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $352.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $355.28.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, insider Angela Beatty sold 961 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.47, for a total value of $340,645.67. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,484 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,943,913.48. This trade represents a 14.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on ACN. Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.