Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Bought by Fayez Sarofim & Co

Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,568 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,546 shares during the period. Fayez Sarofim & Co's holdings in Accenture were worth $15,327,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $2,351,683,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Accenture by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,283,225,000 after buying an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $666,495,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Accenture by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,325,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Accenture by 47.5% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,324,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212,011 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $4.30 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $288.26. 2,762,320 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,008,724. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $319.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $348.16. Accenture plc has a 1 year low of $275.01 and a 1 year high of $398.35.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.77 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio is presently 48.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Accenture to $355.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Accenture from $380.00 to $372.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $377.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the general counsel now owns 20,526 shares in the company, valued at $7,446,422.28. This trade represents a 18.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 169 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $281.90, for a total transaction of $47,641.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,512,111.60. This trade represents a 3.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 22,291 shares of company stock valued at $7,880,886. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

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.