Simon Quick Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 17.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,435 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 790 shares during the quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $1,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of 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. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in 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 worth $822,238,000 after buying an additional 837,677 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 689,366 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Accenture in the third quarter worth about $204,895,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Accenture by 37,788.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 510,358 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $180,401,000 after purchasing an additional 509,011 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on ACN. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Accenture from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $370.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Accenture from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. TD Cowen raised Accenture from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $321.00 to $400.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Accenture from $370.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $383.74.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of Accenture stock opened at $356.31 on Wednesday. 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 $222.98 billion, a PE ratio of 29.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $357.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $346.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.15 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.41% and a return on equity of 26.91%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.27 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Accenture plc will post 12.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 16th will be issued 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 yield of 1.66%. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Julie Spellman Sweet sold 8,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were 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 owns 12,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,412,909.16. This represents a 40.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Angela Beatty sold 375 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $358.50, for a total transaction of $134,437.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,845,916.50. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,845 shares of company stock worth $5,645,518. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.