Caprock Group LLC Acquires 1,383 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 98,442 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,383 shares during the period. Accenture makes up approximately 1.1% of Caprock Group LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Caprock Group LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $34,631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACN. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC now owns 26,619 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $9,364,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Accenture by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,410 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,551,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC increased its position in Accenture by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC now owns 38,116 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $13,409,000 after purchasing an additional 987 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norris Perne & French LLP MI bought a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $356,000. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 20,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,446,422.28. This represents a 18.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly 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. Insiders have sold a total of 13,255 shares of company stock valued at $4,756,101 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Accenture Stock Up 1.8 %

ACN stock traded up $6.77 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $391.98. 3,154,195 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,787,396. 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 firm's 50 day moving average price is $360.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $350.64. The stock has a market cap of $245.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $392.45.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.27 earnings per share. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.66%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. 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.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $387.22.

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.