Magnetar Financial LLC Takes $2.32 Million Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 6,580 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,315,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Accenture by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,400,836 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $9,685,648,000 after purchasing an additional 471,792 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture by 378.9% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 4,345,039 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,964,480 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,746,455,000 after acquiring an additional 140,726 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in Accenture by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,790,069 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,353,909,000 after purchasing an additional 826,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB boosted 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 purchasing an additional 1,212,011 shares during the period. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Accenture news, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total value of $242,750.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,674 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,073,892.12. The trade was a 7.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,793 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.47, for a total transaction of $3,468,574.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 11,858 shares in the company, valued at $4,677,625.26. This trade represents a 42.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,905 shares of company stock worth $8,181,753 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded up $1.79 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $308.97. 3,889,341 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,771,908. Accenture plc has a 1-year low of $278.69 and a 1-year high of $398.35. The stock has a market cap of $193.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. The stock's fifty day moving average is $358.32 and its 200 day moving average is $357.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $16.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. Accenture's revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.77 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Accenture plc will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $1.48 dividend. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.89%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays dropped their price target on Accenture from $415.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada cut 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. Baird R W raised Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Eight investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $378.91.

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.