Seilern Investment Management Ltd Makes New Investment in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Seilern Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 284,114 shares of the information technology services provider's stock, valued at approximately $99,948,000. Accenture makes up about 5.7% of Seilern Investment Management Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Accenture by 1.8% in the third 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. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 1.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,887,266 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,786,256,000 after acquiring an additional 80,514 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 4,345,039 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Accenture by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,823,754 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,705,100,000 after purchasing an additional 56,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 44.7% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,709,989 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $822,238,000 after purchasing an additional 837,677 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ACN traded up $1.77 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $352.33. The company had a trading volume of 4,061,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,320,392. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $357.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $345.93. The company has a market capitalization of $220.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. 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 plc has a 1 year low of $278.69 and a 1 year high of $387.51.

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

Accenture announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.66%.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $369.97, for a total transaction of $1,757,357.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 22,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,500,430.72. This represents a 17.13 % 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 8,136 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.07, for a total value of $2,945,801.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 12,188 shares in the company, valued at $4,412,909.16. The trade was a 40.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,125 shares of company stock valued at $6,184,820. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BNP Paribas lowered Accenture from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $375.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $365.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $385.04.

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.