Cohen Klingenstein LLC Has $2.39 Million Stock Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Cohen Klingenstein LLC lessened its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 66.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,800 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 13,700 shares during the quarter. Cohen Klingenstein LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $2,392,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 378.9% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 4,345,039 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in Accenture by 44.7% during the second 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 in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 712,400 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 2,666.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 715,219 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $251,607,000 after buying an additional 689,366 shares during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Accenture during the 3rd quarter valued at $204,895,000. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. The trade was a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total transaction of $3,385,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,324 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 26,125 shares of company stock valued at $9,570,260. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN stock traded up $1.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $352.33. The stock had a trading volume of 4,061,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,320,392. The firm has a market cap of $220.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G 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 one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $357.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $345.65.

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

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ACN. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $321.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $385.04.

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.