Capital International Inc. CA Grows Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Capital International Inc. CA raised its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 77,667 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,669 shares during the quarter. Capital International Inc. CA's holdings in Accenture were worth $27,322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Accenture in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Accenture by 1.9% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,796 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $635,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 8.4% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 6,135 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,169,000 after buying an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Arvest Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at $18,115,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in Accenture by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 41,175 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $14,555,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $2.45 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $290.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,084,005 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,005,211. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $319.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $348.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture plc has a one year low of $275.01 and a one year high of $398.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion for 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.77 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on ACN shares. Mizuho cut their target price on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Accenture from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $377.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 2,284 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.63, for a total value of $643,242.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 9,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,442.95. This trade represents a 18.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total transaction of $1,723,205.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,791 shares of company stock worth $6,978,161. Corporate 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.