Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Has $11.80 Million Position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC cut its position in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 14.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 33,555 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 5,883 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings in Accenture were worth $11,804,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 2.0% in the third quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,447 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $511,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners lifted its position in shares of Accenture by 0.7% during the third quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 4,077 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,441,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. grew its holdings in Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 9,067 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $3,205,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Accenture by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,951 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $3,871,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in Accenture by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,206 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,840,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Accenture stock traded up $1.77 during trading on Friday, reaching $352.33. The stock had a trading volume of 4,061,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,320,392. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $357.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $345.65. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. 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 (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.27 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 26th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the information technology services provider to purchase up to 1.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other Accenture news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 9,000 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.16, for a total value of $3,385,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 20,324 shares in the company, valued at $7,645,075.84. The trade was a 30.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This represents a 10.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 26,125 shares of company stock worth $9,570,260. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ACN shares. BNP Paribas cut Accenture from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $375.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Accenture from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $385.04.

About Accenture

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.