Capital Research Global Investors Grows Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 16.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,770,024 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up 0.9% of Capital Research Global Investors' portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Capital Research Global Investors owned 1.96% of Accenture worth $4,325,526,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted 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 valued at $635,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture by 8.4% in 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 period. Arvest Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $18,115,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in Accenture by 2.5% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 41,175 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $14,555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total value of $3,468,574.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. The trade was a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total value of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,791 shares of company stock worth $6,978,161 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Barclays cut their price target on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture to $355.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Eight 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $377.82.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $2.53 during trading on Thursday, reaching $290.69. 2,084,005 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,005,211. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $275.01 and a 12-month high of $398.35. 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 cap of $182.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.39, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $319.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $348.16.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The business had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.77 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

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

Accenture Company 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.