Legal & General Group Plc decreased its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 23.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,783,709 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,455,773 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 0.4% of Legal & General Group Plc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.76% of Accenture worth $1,682,861,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $2,351,683,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 22.8% during the fourth 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. acquired a new position in Accenture in the 4th quarter valued at about $666,495,000. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Accenture by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 3,763,690 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,324,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212,011 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Accenture by 51,837.3% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 860,601 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $302,751,000 after purchasing an additional 858,944 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several brokerages recently weighed in on ACN. Guggenheim decreased their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Baird R W raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Accenture from $399.00 to $392.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $378.23.
Read Our Latest Report on ACN
Accenture Price Performance
Shares of NYSE:ACN traded down $1.68 on Friday, hitting $283.54. The company had a trading volume of 5,017,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,010,801. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The company has a market cap of $177.59 billion, a PE ratio of 23.79, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.32. Accenture plc has a 52-week low of $275.01 and a 52-week high of $398.35. The business has a 50 day moving average of $336.60 and a 200 day moving average of $352.03.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.77 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Accenture Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. Accenture's payout ratio is currently 48.89%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 961 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.47, for a total value of $340,645.67. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,484 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,943,913.48. This trade represents a 14.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,677,625.26. This represents a 42.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.
About Accenture
(
Free Report)
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.
Featured Articles
Before you consider Accenture, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Accenture wasn't on the list.
While Accenture currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Nuclear energy stocks are roaring. It's the hottest energy sector of the year. Cameco Corp, Paladin Energy, and BWX Technologies were all up more than 40% in 2024. The biggest market moves could still be ahead of us, and there are seven nuclear energy stocks that could rise much higher in the next several months. To unlock these tickers, enter your email address below.
Get This Free Report
