Legacy Bridge LLC Acquires 1,485 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Legacy Bridge LLC boosted its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 79.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,358 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,485 shares during the quarter. Legacy Bridge LLC's holdings in Accenture were worth $1,181,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ACN. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $1,941,219,000 after buying an additional 4,345,039 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Accenture by 44.7% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $822,238,000 after acquiring an additional 837,677 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Accenture by 2,666.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 689,366 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Accenture in the 3rd quarter valued at about $204,895,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 37,788.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $180,401,000 after purchasing an additional 509,011 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Accenture Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:ACN traded up $5.18 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $378.33. 2,332,312 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,697,887. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $278.69 and a 52-week high of $387.51. The stock has a market cap of $236.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $357.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $348.54.

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

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACN has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Accenture from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Accenture from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, December 19th. 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.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $383.74.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total value of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,916.50. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total transaction of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at $2,062.20. This represents a 99.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,446 shares of company stock valued at $5,852,848 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Accenture 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.