Eldred Rock Partners LLC Increases Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Eldred Rock Partners LLC increased its holdings in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 29,980 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up about 3.6% of Eldred Rock Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Eldred Rock Partners LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $10,555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 4,345,039 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 837,677 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Accenture by 251.3% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 995,896 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $302,165,000 after acquiring an additional 712,400 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Accenture by 2,666.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 715,219 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $251,607,000 after purchasing an additional 689,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in Accenture in the third quarter valued at about $204,895,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ACN shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Accenture from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Accenture from $355.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Accenture from $377.00 to $389.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $385.04.

Accenture Price Performance

Shares of ACN opened at $352.33 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $357.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $345.65. The company has a market capitalization of $220.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.24. Accenture plc has a fifty-two week low of $278.69 and a fifty-two week high of $387.51. 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) last announced 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. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.91% and a net margin of 11.41%. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.15 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.27 earnings per share. Accenture’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company 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 is presently 49.66%.

Accenture announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback 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 reacquire 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 shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Accenture

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was 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 $8,500,430.72. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 673 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $372.18, for a total transaction of $250,477.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,102,817. This represents a 10.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 17,125 shares of company stock valued at $6,184,820. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.