Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Stake Lifted by E Fund Management Co. Ltd.

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 46.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,178 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after buying an additional 5,764 shares during the period. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $6,395,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ACN. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,551,679 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $901,967,000 after buying an additional 363,401 shares during the period. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $673,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Two Point Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Two Point Capital Management Inc. now owns 43,719 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $15,454,000 after buying an additional 518 shares during the period. M&G PLC boosted its position in Accenture by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 292,808 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $103,361,000 after purchasing an additional 74,438 shares during the period. Finally, D.B. Root & Company LLC boosted its position in Accenture by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC now owns 941 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Accenture Stock Performance

ACN traded down $0.16 on Friday, hitting $341.68. 4,459,862 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,708,053. The firm has a market cap of $213.82 billion, a PE ratio of 28.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a twelve month low of $278.69 and a twelve month high of $398.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $365.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $358.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. Accenture's quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.27 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $388.96.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were 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 owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 1,487 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.54, for a total transaction of $527,200.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,247 shares in the company, valued at $3,278,431.38. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 22,280 shares of company stock worth $8,316,190 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.