Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 212.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,212 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,661 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $5,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Accenture by 378.9% in the 3rd 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 valued at $1,941,219,000 after acquiring an additional 4,345,039 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 44.7% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Accenture by 251.3% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $302,165,000 after buying an additional 712,400 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Accenture by 2,666.5% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 689,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth $204,895,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on ACN. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. BNP Paribas downgraded 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. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $385.04.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total transaction of $1,757,357.50. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 22,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total value of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,102,817. The trade was a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 26,125 shares of company stock valued at $9,570,260. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE ACN traded up $1.77 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $352.33. 4,061,199 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,320,392. The company has a 50 day moving average of $357.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $345.65. 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 $220.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.56, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.27 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.66%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.