Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 22.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares during the period. Accenture accounts for 0.8% of Wellington Management Group LLP's portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 1.95% of Accenture worth $4,283,225,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Accenture in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,351,683,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Accenture during the 4th quarter worth $666,495,000. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in Accenture by 47.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Accenture by 51,837.3% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 860,601 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $302,751,000 after purchasing an additional 858,944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,790,069 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $1,353,909,000 after buying an additional 826,038 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research firms recently commented on ACN. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Accenture from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $370.00 to $420.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Accenture from $455.00 to $387.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho dropped their target price on Accenture from $428.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Accenture from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $390.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, March 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Accenture presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $378.23.
View Our Latest Analysis on Accenture
Insider Activity
In other Accenture news, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 232 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.46, for a total value of $91,514.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,516,610.90. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Angie Y. Park sold 685 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.38, for a total value of $242,750.30. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 8,674 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,073,892.12. This trade represents a 7.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 21,905 shares of company stock valued at $8,181,753. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.
Accenture Stock Performance
NYSE ACN traded down $14.73 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $301.60. The company had a trading volume of 2,353,202 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,935,455. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a market cap of $188.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $352.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $355.28.
Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $16.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.64 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. Accenture's revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.77 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.
Accenture Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Accenture's payout ratio is 48.89%.
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.
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