Carnegie Investment Counsel Purchases 3,869 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Carnegie Investment Counsel lifted its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 91,487 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,869 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises approximately 0.9% of Carnegie Investment Counsel's holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Carnegie Investment Counsel's holdings in Accenture were worth $32,184,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock traded up $1.77 on Friday, reaching $352.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,061,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,629,327. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $387.51. The company has a market cap of $220.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.56, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47. The business's fifty day moving average price is $357.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $345.02.

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 firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.27 EPS. The company's revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's management 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 dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is 49.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other Accenture news, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,650 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,102,817. The trade was a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were 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 directly owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. This trade represents a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 26,125 shares of company stock worth $9,570,260. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $329.00 target price on shares of Accenture in a research report on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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.