Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Buckingham Capital Management Inc.

Buckingham Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 9.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,277 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,151 shares during the period. Buckingham Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $8,892,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. Davidson Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 2,307 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $812,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,056 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,834,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 8,066 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,837,000 after buying an additional 809 shares during the period. GAM Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,414,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 29.3% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,718 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $2,363,000 after buying an additional 1,521 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $387.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. This represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

NYSE:ACN traded down $20.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $364.35. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,747,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,728,130. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $398.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market cap of $228.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.57, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.24. The business's fifty day moving average is $367.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $356.12.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS 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 company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.27 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.