Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Sciencast Management LP

Sciencast Management LP lifted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 106.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,396 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,810 shares during the quarter. Sciencast Management LP's holdings in Accenture were worth $2,602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter valued at $25,000. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. raised its position in Accenture by 62.2% in the 4th quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 73 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 87 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of ACN traded up $2.48 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $311.38. 3,669,622 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,768,137. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The firm's fifty day moving average is $357.53 and its 200-day moving average is $356.88. 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 capitalization of $194.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24.

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Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The business 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%. The company's revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.77 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised 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. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $378.23.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 961 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.47, for a total transaction of $340,645.67. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of Accenture 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 transaction, 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 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 valued at $8,181,753 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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.