Boston Common Asset Management LLC Acquires 1,635 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,988 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,635 shares during the quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $8,439,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 378.9% in the third 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 worth $1,941,219,000 after buying an additional 4,345,039 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 44.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Accenture by 251.3% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $302,165,000 after purchasing an additional 712,400 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 2,666.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 715,219 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $251,607,000 after purchasing an additional 689,366 shares during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth $204,895,000. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $1.77 during trading on Friday, reaching $352.33. 4,061,199 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,320,392. The stock's fifty day moving average is $357.59 and its 200 day moving average is $345.36. The firm has a market cap of $220.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm's revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,125 shares of company stock worth $9,570,260. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Accenture from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $329.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $385.04.

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.