Artemis Investment Management LLP Raises Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 21.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,242 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,630 shares during the quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP's holdings in Accenture were worth $3,251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of ACN. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 607.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 99 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Guggenheim upped their target price on Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Barclays raised their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.04.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded up $1.77 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $352.33. The company had a trading volume of 4,061,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,320,392. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $357.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $345.93. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $220.49 billion, a P/E 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 data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 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 business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.27 EPS. The business's revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total value of $1,757,357.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,125 shares of company stock valued at $6,184,820. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.