Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) Shares Acquired by Golden State Equity Partners

Golden State Equity Partners boosted its stake in Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 48.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,482 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 813 shares during the period. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in Accenture were worth $873,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ACN. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Accenture by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,400,836 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $9,685,648,000 after purchasing an additional 471,792 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 378.9% in 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Accenture by 1.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,823,754 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $1,705,100,000 after acquiring an additional 56,937 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,212,011 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in Accenture by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,892,409 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $668,974,000 after purchasing an additional 28,491 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Price Performance

Accenture stock opened at $384.88 on Monday. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $359.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $350.06. Accenture plc has a 52 week low of $278.69 and a 52 week high of $387.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $240.86 billion, a PE ratio of 32.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.24.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 19th. The information technology services provider reported $3.59 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.27 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Accenture plc will post 12.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.48 per share. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 49.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.09, for a total value of $902,725.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 19,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,126,833.33. This represents a 11.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.78, for a total value of $1,723,205.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 20,526 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,446,422.28. The trade was a 18.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 13,255 shares of company stock worth $4,756,101. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on ACN shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $422.00 to $429.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Accenture from $385.00 to $355.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Accenture from $390.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.22.

Accenture Company 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.