Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Purchased by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 2,666.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 715,219 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 689,366 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.11% of Accenture worth $251,607,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rockland Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Accenture by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 68,470 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $24,087,000 after buying an additional 2,107 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Accenture by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,291 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,899 shares during the period. Peoples Financial Services CORP. boosted its position in Accenture by 30.7% in the 4th quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 894 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Accenture during the 4th quarter worth approximately $377,000. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 54.4% during the 4th quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,499 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $879,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryoji Sekido sold 3,191 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.70, for a total value of $1,096,746.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,062.20. This trade represents a 99.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Melissa A. Burgum sold 458 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.25, for a total value of $170,948.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 9,777 shares in the company, valued at $3,649,265.25. This trade represents a 4.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,673 shares of company stock valued at $13,507,099. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $348.34 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $357.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $344.94. The company has a market cap of $217.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.48, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a one year low of $278.69 and a one year high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.20% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.27 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 26th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the information technology services provider to reacquire up to 1.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. 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. Barclays lifted their price target on Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Accenture presently has a consensus 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.